The Syndicate
by Emmy The Queen Salvatore
Summary: PART OF CROSSOVER COLLECTION. Once upon a time, vampires had ruled in the darkness. Now they've been turned into the government's dogs. Emma Petrova escaped The Syndicate three years ago. She's been waging a war against them ever since. She was the first vampire to get out. And she's not going to be the last. Hell hath no fury like a vampire queen scorned. ON HIATUS
1. Off With Her Head

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any other show I draw plot lines and inspiration from in any shape or form. The only character I own is my OC, Emma.**

_Vampires had existed for centuries, their powerful influence on humans hidden from the world. I ruled as queen for centuries. Alone. Then I met Damon Salvatore. The man that would later be my king. For centuries we ruled together. We thought no one could touch us. We were immortals after all. We were wrong. Humans turned out to be much more lethal than we anticipated._

_Nine days after their discovery of vampires, human militant groups stormed our homes, gassing us with vervain bombs, citing their attacks as self-defense. The world was placed under martial law for a brief time until a test could be administered that would verify if a person was human or vampire. At first, the attacks were brutal. Dragging nightwalkers out into the sun, torturing daywalkers...the rest of us that remain long for those days, to meet our deaths. Those that survived the worst waves of the attack were the upper echelon of vampire society. We were captured by the humans and forced into labor camps, threatened with extermination. The labor camps soon turned into a black ops organization funded by the United States government. The Syndicate. The Syndicate is run by a group of witches and threatens to expose us all to the recently peaceful human world unless we cooperate with them. We are their dogs, their slaves. This organization has now gone rogue, deviating from the United States' control._

_My name is Emma. I escaped The Syndicate three years ago. I've been waging a war against them ever since. They believe they'll stop me, but what The Syndicate doesn't know is I have partners on the inside. They're not my only allies either. A human CIA analyst who had begun is own investigation into The Syndicate joined me after I saved his life. I also discovered information about the Black Boxes, one of many hard drives that contains evidence of every job The Syndicate's ever done. It was guarded by the now rogue Cleaner, Kol. Together, we're going to take down The Syndicate one mission at a time. And the last word they'll breathe before the end is my name. Hell hath no fury like a vampire queen scorned._

"Alright, boys and girls! It's chow time!" a guard yelled inside the Syndicate. Caroline Forbes and Damon Salvatore, both veteran agents of The Syndicate, watched from an observation deck as two humans were thrown into a pit.

"Do we really have to watch this?" Caroline asked as starving vampire recruits swarmed into the pit and ripped through the two humans, each fighting for their fill of blood.

"We watch to remind ourselves of how fortunate we are," Damon replied. "We are daywalker agents trusted by the witches. Those recruits have been starved for days. It's Silas' new way of breaking them into submission. If they don't believe he'll send out the information from the Black Boxes detailing their existence, then he'll starve them into desiccation."

"It's disgusting. Our numbers are down and now Silas has resorted to kidnapping humans off the street and turning them with vampire blood. If Emma was…"

"Silence. You know speaking of her is forbidden. I don't want to hear it again."

"But she was your wife."

"That's why I don't want to hear it again. She's gone. She left us all to rot in here. The quicker we can all forget about her, the better. Come on. We have a briefing to go to." Damon and Caroline left the feeding ground and arrived at ops. Just as Silas, the Director of The Syndicate, entered the room, the briefing began.

"This is surveillance of General Safwani entering the Wyckland hotel. Three bodyguards in his suite, one advance guard in the lobby. Lobby guard is our weak link," said Damon. "That's who we hit."

"We have one shot at this. If he makes it to the UN, we fail. What's the team look like?" Silas asked.

"It's a 4-man op. I was planning on using…" Silas' phone rang and he answered it.

"Silas. Really? When? No, I'll be right there." He hung up. "I'm taking you off Operation Black Arrow. Caroline, you'll run it from ops."

"Yes, sir," Caroline replied.

"Damon, you have a new assignment."

"What?"

"Emma."

"Emma?"

"She's causing trouble again. I want you to hunt her down, and I want you to confirm the kill. Do you think you can do that this time?"

"What do you think?" Silas smiled, confident of his brainwashing on Emma's husband. Meanwhile, Emma was walking through a graveyard. She stopped at a stone that read Tatia Petrova. The Syndicate had taken everything from Emma. Her empire, her love, and her little sister. They'd killed her in cold blood. She'd seen Kol do it.

"I'm so sorry, Tati," Emma murmured. At The Syndicate, Alaric was walking with Silas down a hallway.

"It's Emma. I got a hit on the pressure sensor at Greenlawn. Pulled up Athenasat. Boom. Took her three years, but she's finally paying her respects."

"That or she's finally snapped. Go ahead and assemble a team. We're in closer proximity to her here than Damon is."

"She had a good run. Won't be another one like her."

"Don't be so sure." A few minutes later, Alaric had pulled up in a black SUV along with a strike team.

"Daywalkers, position is unchanged. Use caution. She will be armed." Agents stormed to the cemetery. "Bye, Emmy. Execute." The agents fired, but their target was a dummy. "Target on the move! Target on the move! North Gate! North Gate! Radio back when you have visual."

"Good boy, Saltzman," Emma replied, her gun to his head.

"What are you gonna do?"

"You'll see." She hit him with the butt of her gun and took off in the SUV. A few minutes later, Ric woke up in an interrogation room. "Congratulations, Ric. You found me."

"What is that? Truth serum?" the human asked, seeing Emma fill up a needle.

"It's pain desensitizer. I don't want you passing out on me."

"So, what, you gonna torture me? Is that it?"

"Not if you tell me what I need to know."

"Well, I always told you you were hot. You know that."

"I want access to The Syndicate's network. Log-ins, passwords."

"Bitch, just skip to the part where you kill me."

"Nah." She punched him.

"Seriously, do it! Because if I give you those codes, Silas will kill me. What do you want with the network, anyway? It's not like it was any help to us finding where you've been hiding out."

"I'm not hiding anymore."

"You need to stop this take down The Syndicate game."

"It's not a game."

"Emmy, you're insane."

"Don't call me Emmy."

"Then don't call me nerd. Remember you used to call me that? 'Patch me through to Damon, nerd. This computer's busted. Fix it, nerd.' Place ain't the same without you, babe."

"Then let's burn it down."

"You seriously think you can burn down The Syndicate all on your own?"

"Who says I'm on my own?"

"So you playing for the other side now? Well, if you got such big guns on your side backing you up, what do you need me for?"

"Well, because they may be able to get me the intel I need. But I know you can get it."

"Well, then we're right back where we started. Just understand, if you do this, you're going to have to kill your way through a whole lot of people you know. Starting with me. Emmy." Later, Damon had received a report that Alaric's tracker was back online. He found his friend in a playground, taped to a rocking horse.

"She's long gone," said Ric. "Good hustle though. Very nice. Someone want to get me off this?"

"Never underestimate Emma's sense of humor," Damon growled. When they got back to headquarters, Alaric was icing his face when Silas came to meet with them.

"She's running out of options. I mean, if she can't crack me, there's no way she's going to crack this place," said Ric.

"She say who she was working for?"

"No. Honestly, I think it's a bluff. I think she's on her own. I mean, you should have seen her. She was a wreck. I was able to turn the tables on her easy."

"Yeah, was that before or after she duct-taped you to that springy rocking horse?" Damon asked sarcastically. "The only reason why you're alive is because she wanted you that way. We need to suspend all operations until we can contain this. As long as she's out there, she's a threat."

"Threats are what we put down using our resources. Emma is a complication," Silas clarified.

"If you believe Ric."

"I'm telling the truth, Damon. And she didn't kill me because she likes me. Think you're just jealous she didn't ask about you."

"Where are you going?" Damon asked Silas.

"Joint intelligence fundraiser. I've gotta put in an appearance. All operations are go, including Black Arrow." Meanwhile at Emma's loft, the vampire queen had received an encrypted e-mail: _Black Arrow Target: Safwani. Wyckland Hotel. 1700 hr._

Later, a Syndicate agent at the Wyckland Hotel had drugged the lobby guard's water and incapacitated him. The guards upstairs were confused at the lack of response on their colleague's radio.

"That should do it," said the agent.

"I hope so," said Emma, waltzing into the bathroom.

One of the agents pulled his gun on her, but she knocked it out of his hands with a sharp snap of his wrist. After taking a few punches herself, Emma quickly snapped the necks of the two daywalkers. "That could have gone better."

Emma walked out of the bathroom and into an elevator as two of Safwani's guards had exited. Emma burst through the door of Safwani's suite and kicked his third guard unconscious. She then tasered the general. Hiding him under a sheet on a cart, Emma ran through the hallway with the human. After narrowly escaping the clutches of another daywalker, Emma drove the unconscious general to the UN. She honked her horn, waking him up.

"General, wake up. You're at the United Nations."

"What are you doing? You can't do this to me."

"Do what, save your life? I hope you noticed. A kill squad just tried to take you out before you could make it to your peace summit tomorrow."

"You're an American. I'm an ally of the United States."

"The United States didn't attack you. One of their weapons did; a weapon they've lost control of. A unit called The Syndicate."

"I don't understand."

"It's simple. Your country's rich with oil, but you don't own any of it. The companies that drill it do. They know the minute that you stabilize your country, the second you end civil war, you'll kick 'em out. Those companies contracted The Syndicate to kill you."

"How do you know this? Who are you?"

"I'm someone who wants to see The Syndicate fail. Peace." She left the car just as security guards came down the stairs of the UN complex. That night in Washington, DC, Silas was attending a fundraiser for The Centennial Foundation. Damon was the head of his security.

"Glad you're able to be here tonight, Silas," said a man at the party.

"Makes one of us. John, what did you want to tell me that I couldn't hear on the phone?"

"The CIA has made my committee aware of some very high level espionage activities. Kidnappings, assassinations. It's clearly the work of a skilled intelligence network. But we can't attribute it to any one of our enemies. Or allies. You come across anything like that?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Hey, you work for us. Remember that."

"I work for whoever happens to be sitting in your chair. That person tends to come and go." Silas walked over to Damon.

"Caroline wanted me to tell you that Black Arrow was blown. Emma sabotaged the op."

"Then what the hell are you doing here? Find her!"

"I need to pull in assets from the field. Emma is the oldest vampire around. Finding her when she doesn't want to be found is next to impossible."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my backstabber of a husband. Still the Syndicate's little puppy, I see," said Emma, walking toward the men.

"And if it isn't the callous bitch who destroyed me. How did you get in here?"

"Front door. Like you."

"Who are you bothering now?" a senator asked Emma.

"What, I can't mingle?" Emma asked innocently.

"She's been behaving herself, Senator. I'm sorry. I didn't get your name," said Silas.

"Oh. Emma."

"Beautiful." Suddenly, Damon surreptitiously knocked Emma into the senator and she spilled her drink on him.

"I'm so sorry. We better get some seltzer on that. This way, Senator."

"If you think Senator Marcus is going to be leverage, he's not," said Silas once Damon and Senator Marcus had left.

"He was just my ticket tonight. I found out what escort service he used and I worked it so I was his date."

"Well, you've been planning this for a while, huh?"

"I want you to know I can get to you and hit you where it hurts the most."

"My feelings?"

"Your funding. Tonight was just a taste."

"Didn't you accompany me to one of these once?"

"Yes. Five years ago. You needed some arm candy to distract some VIP. I'm surprised you remember that."

"I remember everything. Which is why I decided to bring along a little back-up tonight. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline your offer."

"Oh, Silas. You should know better than to try to outsmart a thousand year old vampire."

"This doesn't have to be awkward. Just take my arm and we'll go right out that door. We can do it quiet, or the other way. Your choice." Emma pulled out her compact and spotted two agents dressed as waiters. She then pulled out a tube of lipstick.

"No, Silas. It's yours. And you just made it." She rolled the lipstick all the way, detonating a car bomb outside. Using the distraction, she grabbed the agent's gun and shot his back-up. She then shot at Silas before escaping. When Emma returned to the loft, she received another encrypted message. A message from Caroline.

_Nice job, Mrs. Legendary._

_Log off now._

_Chill, sensei. They suspect nothing._

_They will. Never forget what I taught you. LOG OFF._

Caroline ended the transmission and Emma sighed. She then sensed a presence behind her.

"I'm surprised he let you out this early. Were you followed?"

"Of course not. You know me better than that." Emma turned and her eyes softened when she saw Damon.

"You were very convincing at the party. Any other woman would have believed you hated them." Damon saw the wariness in her eyes. As she turned back around, he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately.

"But we both know you're more than just any other woman. I've missed you. It's been weeks since I last saw you."

"Then why are you still talking?" They both smirked and Damon pushed her against the wall. As he kissed her neck, he lifted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. They kissed each other senseless, relishing in the small and few moments they had together. The free queen and her chained king. Their plan was slowly but surely coming together. Silas would soon pay for what he had done to their family and the betrayal would most certainly be sweet.


	2. Co-Dependent

After three rounds of hot and heavy vampire sex, Emma and Damon were totally exhausted. The daylight filtered through the soft curtains of Emma's loft, illuminating the couple kissing on the bed, just enjoying the mere presence of each other.

"You are a goddess, my queen," Damon whispered as he kissed her shoulders and collarbone.

"I try." Emma's fingertips traced the tribal sun tattoo design on his shoulder, a tattoo that strongly resembled the one on Emma's hip. "I'm surprised you still kept my clan mark. I thought Silas would have made you get rid of it."

"I couldn't bear to lose another part of you so I managed to convince Silas that it was a tribal symbol, denoting daywalkers. He liked the idea so much that on those daywalkers who don't have the mark he's having Medical administer it. He also created a moon design for the nightwalkers."

"Ah. Never let it be said that my husband is not clever." She kissed him.

"I should go. This is too dangerous."

"For who?"

"I have a tracker implant, remember?"

"Yes, and I have a signal jammer." She stole a kiss from him. "Or we could just take it out completely." She slapped his hip.

"Ow. Yeah, I'm sure that wouldn't arouse any suspicion."

"Well, I think someone here is very aroused." Damon laughed.

"Emma, I'm serious."

"Yes. I know. Very serious, Damon. Always so serious."

"Uh-huh," he murmured as he kissed her. "When are you going to tell Caroline about us?"

"Not now. She's under a lot of pressure with her promotion. I don't know if she can handle any big surprises."

"Emma?" a voice called out. Both the vampires jumped out of bed and grabbed their guns. The intruder pulled out his gun as well.

"Wait!" Emma yelled, realizing it was Kol.

"Drop your gun," said Damon.

"Drop yours," Kol replied.

"Kol, what the hell are you doing here?" Emma asked.

"Well, I came to talk to you. What's he doing here?"

"Damon's with me. Both of you put your weapons down." The two men didn't move. "Down, boys! Now!" Damon was the first to lay his weapon down. Kol soon followed. "I'll ask you again, Kol. What are you doing here?"

"What we talked about. Find the next Black Box and the Sentinel that protects them."

"We talked about that three months ago," said Emma as she and Damon both pulled on some clothes. "And when we talked about the Sentinel being in London…"

"I was just there. I narrowed the Sentinel's location to a specific borough."

"The Sentinel is a Syndicate agent whose sole job is to remain invisible in a haystack of what, eight million people, and you found him in only three months?" Damon asked, pulling his shirt on.

"Damon, please," Emma sighed. "Kol, when we talked, you said you'd call if you found anything. You didn't have to come all the way here."

"Call? Call? On an unsecure line? Come on. Not when I'm so close." He glanced at Damon. "The Syndicate has ears everywhere."

"Damon is not The Syndicate. He's on our side."

"Oh, our side?" Damon asked.

"My side," Emma clarified.

"Yeah, I can see that," Kol quipped.

"Shut up," Emma replied, hitting him. "Listen to me, both of you. Damon, Kol's gotten us close. You can bring this home. Give us the name of the Sentinel."

"Emma, you know I would do anything for you, but this…I can't. I risk exposing myself."

"You can. You have top-level access, much higher than Caroline. Please, babe. Please. This is how we bring Silas down. This is how we can be together again," Emma begged, her forehead leaning against Damon's.

"Okay. While I'm bringing this home, what are you going to do?"

"We'll be on site, waiting for your call. Once you get us the location of the Sentinel, we'll strike."

"So you're going to be in London…with him."

"That's the only way this works."

"She's bossy like that. You learn," Kol spoke up.

"I think I know her pretty well. Emmalyne, can I speak to you for a second?"

Emma could tell by his tone and the use of her full name Damon was pissed. She walked toward the window so they could speak somewhat privately. Throughout her war against the Syndicate, Emma had kept all her contacts separate from another. Damon had only known about Caroline because she wanted to make sure her protégé was protected and she knew Damon was more than capable of the task. Damon liked Caroline, but it was quite clear Kol was a whole different story and she didn't blame him.

"I don't like him," said Damon.

"Okay, but this isn't a teen drama."

"And I don't trust him."

"But I'm not asking you to trust him."

"Emma."

"I'm asking you to trust me," Emma interrupted, taking his hand and kissing his knuckles. "Please."

"God, I hate it when you beg. You're impossible to say no to." His hands then cupped her face. "Emma, you don't know what he's done."

"Yes, I do." Damon's expression turned to that of shock. She knew Kol killed her sister. "He's trying to change. He wants to. He's just like us." She kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too." Emma then walked away to get her equipment.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of her," said Kol. Damon glared at him, growling. He left before his temper sparked even further. When he arrived at headquarters, he saw Ric working furiously on his computer in ops.

"Hey, Ric."

"Hey, Damon."

"I want to review some of our internal security protocols. Do you have a moment?"

"Not really though that does sound like a good time."

"What's going on?"

"Problem on Emerald Eagle. Our little corporate heist job went sideways."

"What went wrong?"

"That's what we'd like to find out," said Esther, The Syndicate's head psychologist and interrogator, as she entered the room with Caroline.

"It should have been easy in, easy out, but a couple of overachieving security guards decided to play hero," said Ric.

"Three agents wounded," Esther added.

"Here they come now." Damon and Caroline watched the agents exit the elevator.

"Katherine was on this mission?" Damon asked. "How are the guards not all dead?"

"We've been teaching Katherine the art of restraint. Caroline, I'd like you to debrief her and file an after-action report by the end of the day," Esther replied.

"You want me to debrief Katherine? She hates me."

"A certain level of antagonism can be useful in this situation. Anything that puts the subject off-balance works to the questioner's advantage. You're in the perfect position to help me get to the truth."

Meanwhile, Emma and Kol were walking down the streets of London.

"Nice neighborhood," said Emma, noticing graffiti on a wall.

"Keep your head down. There are surveillance cameras everywhere in London."

"You still trying to be the invisible man?"

"Always." A few minutes later, they arrived at Kol's safe house. "Make yourself at home." Emma took in the dusty surroundings.

"Is that what this is?"

"What?"

"Nothing." Emma then noticed the space Kol was working out of. It was a mess.

"This is how I narrowed it down to Camden. A Sentinel has certain requirements. Easy access to public transportation, secure vaults, strong satellite signal coverage, and multiple ex-fil routes. That alone eliminated big chunks of the city. After that it was just about pounding the pavement, scouting out where he'd be. Like banks."

"Why banks?"

"Sentinel protocol. Rent a safety deposit box, store the Black Box there."

"What are these?" Emma asked, seeing a few drawings.

"These? These drawings are my victims. It's a reminder of every kill I made at The Syndicate. Killing to survive is one thing, but killing just to kill is…"

"They turned us into the monsters they thought we truly were," Emma agreed. "All the blood we spilt. For nothing but to further Silas' ambitions. So your plan was to stake out all the banks in this area and then what? Hope you'd just pick a Sentinel out of the crowd?"

"Sentinel's are former Cleaners. They all have this…"

"You all kind of have that look."

"It's all in the eyes. Sentinels are The Syndicate's deadliest daywalkers. We hit harder, move quicker, and we sleep less. But eventually those skills start to erode. That's what happens when take an elite killer and pull him out of the field just to babysit a Black Box. You're bound to make a mistake just out of sheer boredom. Eliza was my mistake. I fell in love with her and…"

"She wasn't a mistake."

"Failing to protect her was my mistake." A headache then accosted Kol.

"Kol, what's wrong?"

"Just a headache."

"Vampires don't get headaches."

"I forgot what time it is." He went to a secret compartment underneath the floor and pulled out four pill bottles.

"What's that?"

"It's The Regimen. This is how we Cleaners move faster, hit harder…"

"Sleep less?"

"Palproic acid, steroids, dextroamphetamines. It's a metabolic dominance program specifically designed for vampires. Heightens your reflexes, eliminates anxiety," Kol said as he took some pills.

"Gives you splitting headaches?"

"Only if you don't take it. You can be sure our Sentinel friend has the same kind of edge. That's why we've got to be careful. We're alone in the city. Emma, it's just you, me, and the Sentinel and he's very dangerous."

"Consider myself warned." A few minutes later, Emma called Damon on her satellite phone. Damon was pacing in the firing range.

"The info on the Sentinel is on a protected file on Silas' computer. I can't get to that right now. However, I checked on the operational expenses for London and there is an ongoing charge. It's not assigned to an active op or agent. It's a shipping container."

"Protocol for a Sentinel in a foreign theater is to establish a storage space. A shipping container is a default option."

"Container A541. It's currently sitting at the Port of London."

"He's not as useless as I thought." Emma then pulled Damon off speakerphone, anticipating his rant.

"I really don't like that guy," said Damon as Emma walked into the living room

"He doesn't mean it. What do you know about The Regimen?"

"The Regimen? Where'd you hear that term?"

"It's a bunch of meds that Kol is taking."

"I know what they are. Is he on them now?"

"Yeah. He's running low. Do you think you can get more from The Syndicate?"

"No. It was discontinued years ago. Silas must have kept a stash for the Sentinels. Emma, listen to me. Walk! Get away from Kol."

"Damon, what are you talking about?"

"If Kol is going through Regimen withdrawal, you have to leave him. Better yet shoot him."

"What?"

"When Silas discontinued the Regimen, he discovered that the vampires who were taken off the drugs demonstrated wildly erratic behavior."

"Erratic how?"

"It was different with each patient. Best we could tell is it made the vampires psychotically obsessive. Turned whatever their personal drive was into something…all consuming. The Regimen is highly addictive to vampires, Emma. Once they get a fix, they can't stop. It's like crack but for vampires."

"I'll look after him. If there's a problem, I will contact you."

"Emma."

"Damon, Kol is not your enemy. We'll call you from the port."

"Wait." She hung up. "Damnit." That night, Kol and Emma checked out the port.

"So how long have you and Damon been…"

"We met in Ancient Rome. We've been together long before you were even born."

"So when he aimed that rocket launcher at us in Chile…"

"All part of the ruse, Kol. You know how I like to keep all my allies separate. Helps you all stay focused. Besides, he was aiming at you."

"Ah! Jealous type, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Kind of scrawny."

"Trust me. He's built where it counts. Here it is. A541." Emma twisted the lock off and they entered the shipping container. "What is all this stuff?"

"It's Cleaner equipment. Hydrochloric acid, carbon steel bone saw, surgical rib cutters. That's a blood siphon. Bodies fold better when you drain the blood first." Emma grimaced. "Do you know what a Cleaner does? Because it's not just about dissolving the bodies in acid. We arrange it so that people don't even know the victim was murdered. Make it look like a suicide, an accident."

"Kol, please."

"Like what I did with Tatia. I made it looked like a boating accident when I really injected her with the vervain virus. Nasty little thing The Syndicate cooked up. Completely obliterates a vampire's heart. About as effective as staking them. People I've killed. Their loved ones will never know the truth."

"That's why we have to stop The Syndicate and to do that we need to find the Sentinel and his Black Box."

"You're right. The Black Box has the answers, but all those people…how they really died. You release that information and the truth comes out and the families finally have some peace."

"That may be true, but you'll be hurting a lot of other people as well. Not to mention exposing us all over again. There will be another mass cleansing. That's why Silas keeps them. It's his insurance policy and it's also why we never release the contents of the Black Box. We destroy them."

"So Silas wins again." Emma then noticed a camera clipped to a shelf. The recording light then shut off.

"Run!" They ran out of the container right before it exploded. "I think the Sentinel knows we're here." Kol cringed in pain. "It's the Regimen, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"We have to get you help. Come on." Meanwhile, Damon showed Silas a surveillance photo of Kol.

"Kol is in London. This came from a traffic camera. I've been tracking his movements. I'd like to go there."

"Approved. Emma's there too," Silas replied. "Just got a call from an asset saying the two of them were on the ground."

"Which asset?"

"A Sentinel."

"I'll take a strike team. And I'll get him."

"And her?"

"Of course." Silas looked slightly suspicious. Back in London, Kol took the last of his pills.

"That's the last of it."

"We'll get you more and find a way to wean you off."

"We're running out of time. The Sentinel knows we're here."

"Which means he called Silas which means a Syndicate strike team is on the way. If you're in his shoes, what do you do?"

"First thing I do is secure the Black Box."

"He'll be going to the bank. We need to get there first."

"I did a walk-through on all the banks. They're basically all just the same."

"In Montreal how did you choose your bank?"

"I don't remember."

"Kol, I need you to focus. Why that bank? Close your eyes. You're walking into the bank in Montreal for the first time. What do you see?"

"Three guards, five cameras, time lock vault."

"Tell me about the safety deposit room."

"There were boxes on both sides. They went from floor to ceiling. There was a back door, opening to an alley. Better than the parking lot because it provided more cover. The alley."

"The Royal Birkham on Crowndale," said Emma, finding a bank that matched Kol's description.

The following morning, Emma and Kol arrived at the bank.

"Stay here. I'm going to try to talk my way into the safety deposit room. See if I can set up some kind of remote surveillance." As she walked toward the bank, a man came out. Kol locked eyes with him and realized he was the Sentinel. Kol chased after him. Emma noticed his movements and went after the two men.

"Kol! Damnit. There's too many people. I can't use vampire speed."

As the three vampires ran at a slower speed, Emma finally caught up to Kol when the Sentinel started shooting in broad daylight. Taking cover behind a car, Emma let off a few rounds. Going on a side road, Kol gained the advantage, tackling the Sentinel. The two engaged in a fierce fight, a series of punches and kicks exchanged. A piercing headache then hit Kol. Before the Sentinel could kill Kol, Emma shot him with a vervain bullet in the shoulder.

"Stay down," Emma warned. However, the Sentinel wasn't one to listen to Emma's demands. He kicked her legs out from under her and grabbed her in a chokehold. Struggling against him, Emma bit into his arm. He screamed in pain, releasing her. "Filthy young blood," Emma spat.

The taste of the Sentinel's blood crashed with Emma's delicate palate. She was more used to aged vampire blood like her husband's. Aged vampire blood carried more flavor, like human blood and fine wine. Young vampire blood still held it's metallic taste. Emma punched the Sentinel several more times before throwing him over the bridge into the frigid lake. Emma walked back to the road and noticed Kol had taken custody of the Black Box the Sentinel had dropped.

"Kol, put the box on the ground."

"Why?"

"I'm going to shoot it and we're going to get out of here. Come on."

"You kill the box, the truth dies with it. We've got to release the truth."

"No. We talked about this remember?"

"You said it was time this all came to an end."

"Kol, hand it over."

She went for him, but he pushed her into the way of an oncoming car. She bounced off the windshield. Groaning, Emma rose from the ground and saw Kol leaving.

"Chert. _(Damnit),_" she cursed in Russian. When Emma arrived back at Kol's safe house, Damon was waiting in a chair. "Damon? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She hugged him. Emma grimaced as he tightened his grip on her waist. "He hurt you, didn't he?"

"Think I cracked a rib. I'll heal. He's not himself."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"How do we help him?"

"Emma, you're not hearing me. There is no way to help him."

"I don't believe that."

"The longer he goes without the drugs, the more delusional he becomes. Look around you."

"He wants to get better."

"You can't just talk him out of this. His nervous system is fried and no amount of vampire healing is going to fix it."

"Then we get him on the Regimen and we stabilize him. Then we find a way to get him clean."

"That's impossible."

"Impossible?"

"Uh-huh."

"Like singlehandedly taking on The Syndicate? Like hoping one day you and I would be together again? Damon, he's one of us. If it were me out there in trouble, would you give up?"

"Never. If you really want to help him, tell me this. Where is he right now?"

"Trying to upload a Black Box I'm sure."

"I don't think he can do it."

"Why not?"

"Silas told me every box has a biometric sensor. They're coded to the individual blood signatures of their Sentinels. If he wants to transmit, then he'll need to get a sample of the Sentinel's blood."

"Well, the Sentinel's out for Kol's blood."

"We can't let them get together." Damon then received a text. "It may be too late. Syndicate's found him."

"What about the Sentinel?"

"En route."

"Kol's luring him in. He wants the Sentinel to come to him. How far away is your team?"

"Closer than we are." The two ran out the door and were on the road in a matter of seconds. "When we get there, can you order your strike team to back off?"

"Possibly. But I can't control the Sentinel. He's under Silas' orders."

"We'll take care of him then."

"Emma, if comes down to it…I'll put down Kol."

"It won't come to that." Damon's phone then rang.

"Hello, Esther. I'm kind of busy right now."

"I understand, but Caroline's made an accusation against you."

"Caroline?"

"You remember Gavin, right? The mole Emma had inside the Syndicate. Caroline put him down." In reality, Gavin had discovered Caroline was the mole and she had killed him. Caroline had used Gavin to gain higher status within The Syndicate.

"I recall the incident."

"Caroline says that Gavin had romantic feelings for her, feelings that led him to behave erratically. Unless of course Caroline's assertions are mistaken."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I should have said something. I thought I could help him."

"So you knew he put her in compromising situations."

"Yes, I did. He was a promising agent. I made the wrong call."

"You, of all people, should know about the dangers of romantic relationships inside The Syndicate."

"I'll keep that in mind." He hung up.

When Emma and Damon arrived at the church where Kol was holed up, Kol had dispatched the Sentinel and Damon's strike team. He was about to upload the box.

"Kol, we can get you the Regimen," said Emma, entering the church as Damon aimed his gun at Kol.

"I don't need it. Not anymore."

"You do this people will get hurt."

"There's always pain before you get better. It's how we heal."

"Get out of my line of fire, Emma." said Damon.

"Kol, please."

"This is how we remember Eliza," said Kol.

"Emma, move," Damon urged.

"And Tatia and everybody else," Kol continued. He was about to upload the box, but Damon shot the harddrive. "No. No!"

"Damon, don't!" Emma yelled as the two fought. Emma knocked Kol's gun out of his hands just as Damon snapped his neck. "Thanks for not taking the shot."

"I still don't like the guy." Emma rolled her eyes. Damon then called Silas.

"And there's no sign of them?" Silas asked.

"Well, the box was destroyed and the Sentinel and strike team are dead. That's the second one she's gotten to. Perhaps you should rethink your Black Box system."

"Hmm. Perhaps." Silas ended the call and threw his phone across the room. Later that day, Kol woke up.

"Hey," said Emma. "You notice I end up being your nurse a lot? You're unconscious half the time we're together."

"The pills."

"Yeah. Damon recovered them from the Sentinel's safe house. About a half year's supply."

"Thanks."

"We've got to get out of here. Damon's covering for us, but this place may no longer be safe."

"Sounds like I owe him."

"You can thank him when we get home."

"You're going to have to thank him for me. I'm not going with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think I need to find some answers."

"This isn't something you have to go through on your own."

"Yeah. It is. There are some things I need to do by myself. Find a way to get off this Regimen for one. And figure out if I'm ready to start making up for the things I've done. Till then I can be no help to you or anybody else."

"You know where I'll be."

"Emma. I never apologized for Tatia. I'm sorry." Tears came to Emma's eyes. "I'm sorry." She hugged him.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" She then left and Caroline called her. "Hello?"

"Hey, where are you?" Caroline asked, walking the streets of New York.

"I'm in London, but I'm coming home."

"We've got to talk. Esther recommended my termination. Luckily, Silas wasn't convinced."

"We need to move up the timetable on your extraction."

"Good. I nearly bit it today. Esther had me dead to rights. Here's what's weird. Damon saved my ass. Do you think he's planning something?" Emma smiled.

"Caroline, we need to talk about Damon."


	3. Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)

"We're pressed for time. So we'll go straight from briefing to tactical review. After that, Ric will meet you in logistics to go over your infiltration kit," said Damon as he walked down a hallway of The Syndicate with Caroline.

"Damon, I thought I was getting out. Emma said she told you."

"I realize we're on the same team, but that doesn't mean we speak about it in here. Ever," Damon hissed.

"I'm sorry, but why are you putting me on a mission? Is it something we're trying to stop?"

"No. This mission is on the level. And you're going to run point." Caroline walked into the briefing room and saw Katherine. She sighed.

"I realize the two of you have had your differences, but trust me when I tell you there is no one else for this job," said Silas.

"Kalume Ungara. Profiled in last month's Vanity Fair. 'Children of Power.' Kalume's father is the President of Liberia. So life is good. Kalume lives like a prince, parties like a rock star. If that's all that he did, we wouldn't care. But Kal as his Harvard classmates like to call him is also something of an entrepreneur," Damon continued.

"He uses his father's diamonds to fund his illegal weapons operation. According to our intel, he is arranging a sale of a nerve toxin which is extremely lethal and compact."

"He designs his weapons himself in his lab underneath his home in Geneva. You two are going to blow it up."

"How?" Caroline asked.

"There's an economic summit in Geneva tomorrow night at the Egilsson Center. Kalume will be attending with his father's delegation. Afterwards, he will be throwing a party at his home on the lake."

"Let me guess. We're invited?" Katherine asked.

"Each of you were chosen," said Silas.

"Kal has a weakness for fashion models. Last week he met with a Syndicate agent posing as a broker, looked through some photos and chose the both of you." Caroline sent Damon a look.

"Sale goes down in twenty-four hours. Do what The Syndicate does best. Strike first, strike fast, leave no trace. Caroline, this is a big deal. We're counting on you." Caroline nodded and left the room. Later, Damon and Caroline spoke with Emma at her safe house.

"How could you do this?" Emma asked after threw a vase into the wall. "You knew we were planning her escape and now you're sending her on an overseas mission?"

"I'm not sending her anywhere. By the time Silas had looped me in, she and Katherine had already been picked."

"You could have fought it."

"On what grounds? You want Silas to start asking questions? It'd put her in more danger."

"We do it tonight then."

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Fake your death. Car bomb. Like we said. Your ID packet is all ready to go. We'll stage it on the way to the airport."

"Out of the question. We have a very tight window on this mission and losing Caroline would jeopardize that," said Damon.

"This mission? A Syndicate mission."

"It's a good mission."

"Good for who? Silas?"

"This nerve toxin could be used in a terrorist attack."

"Or to line Silas' pockets."

"He won't get his hands on it. I've designed the explosion to completely incinerate the toxin."

"What if it killed me too?" Caroline asked. "We're supposed to blow up the lab, right? What if we faked my death on the mission?"

"That's too risky," said Damon. He then noticed Emma's smirk. "_Emma_, that's too risky." She smiled at him. "So that's how you want to do this? In the middle of an operation with The Syndicate monitoring?"

"It kind of makes it sweeter. Not the point. If she blows up on foreign soil, it's not like Silas can send a bunch of Cleaners to sift through the rubble. She'd die a hero too. All we're talking about is altering the ex-fil. Could work."

"As long as the original mission gets finished."

"So we can do it?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah," Damon sighed.

"Yes," Emma said cheerfully. "As long as we don't step on the Syndicate's toes. Right, Damon?" That evening, Emma rolled out from under the bus that had taken Kalume's guests to his home and moved to the back of the house. She noticed a florist truck and moved behind it and to the ventilation duct.

"Emma, it's me. I'm on the private com," said Caroline.

"We're on schedule. The exfil kit is in the ventilation room. One more thing. Once you're free, you're going to have to be alone for a little while. I know you'll be smart and I know you'll be careful, but…please be strong for yourself. God knows you've been for me." Several minutes later, Caroline contacted Emma again.

"We need to talk. Meet me in the ventilation room." When Caroline reached the ventilation room, she explained to Emma the deal she saw between Kalume and another woman.

"Wait, she wasn't a customer?"

"No, Kalume's going to use the toxin to kill his father and make it look like an attack on the whole Summit. She's going to gas all of them. Emma, are you listening to me? We have to tell Damon."

"No. If we tell Damon, he'll follow Syndicate protocol and he'll pull you and Katherine on the immediate threat."

"He'll call off the operation."

"Caroline, we are so close to getting you out of The Syndicate. You have to blow the lab and they have to believe you're in it."

"But the attack."

"I'll stop the attack. You stay on mission." Emma left the ventilation room and after jacking a car, called Damon.

"You did what?" Damon asked on a satellite phone in the firing range of the Syndicate.

"I told Caroline to stay on mission."

"Emma, if the attack is eminent, I need all available resources on it now."

"Yeah, I'm available. I've got Anya's description and I already put the Summit into the Nav. I'm ten minutes out."

"If Silas finds out about the attack, he'll pull Caroline off anyway."

"He won't find out because he won't have time to find out. Caroline will call in, pretend she's trapped, blow it from the outside. She'll die a hero."

"You can't blow up the lab. It'll tip off Kalume. He might accelerate the attack."

"Or he might get spooked and call the whole thing off. Damon, let me ask you something. If I was still at the Syndicate and this was happening, who would you put on it? Come on. I'm an agent all over again. Isn't that some kind of fantasy of yours?"

"Alright. I want a report when you're on the scene. Then we'll blow it."

"Damon!"

"Bye." He hung up. When Emma arrived at the Summit, she noticed the same florist van that was at Kalume's. She opened the back door and saw a bomb. She quickly deactivated it.

"Sweet." She called Damon.

"What do you got?"

"Oh just a little nice present of four bricks ready to blow outside the Summit."

"What about the nerve agent?"

"Nothing yet."

"Anya?"

"No contact. Damon, this is the same van I saw outside Kalume's place. It has to be part of the plan, but I've already disabled it. Why don't we let Caroline do what she needs to do?"

"Not until you've located Anya."

"Damon, I'm here. You know I can stop this."

"You're asking me to risk innocent lives."

"No. I'm asking you to trust me. This car bomb. It makes no sense. It was supposed to be a nerve gas attack."

"Frankfurt. Three years ago. Remember we stopped that attack by the Volksfrie Movement. Corporate retreat."

"Wait, didn't the Volksfrie do an armed assault?"

"Yes, they did, but like the Summit, it was in a large group and an even larger space. They blew a car and made it seem as if the terrorists were attacking from outside."

"They timed it to go off five minutes ago so that security could hold them all in one place."

"In a smaller area, they could easily gun them down."

"Or gas them. I'm going back inside. Is Caroline back on?"

"I'll let you know when it's done."

"Alright. I'll call you after I take this bitch down." Suddenly, Anya attacked Emma with a swift punch to the face, knocking her out. Anya reassembled the bomb timer and it began to tick down. A minute later, the car bomb went off and security herded the Summit's guests into a ballroom. Later in a hallway, Emma attacked Anya who was ready to activate the nerve gas in the form of her diamond earrings.

"Round two," said Emma.

"Do I have to beat you again?"

"Cocky. I like that."

"You have no idea." Emma threw Anya down the stairs and kneed her in the face. After throwing her down another set of stairs, Anya hit her head on the railing, knocking her unconscious. Emma then broke Anya's phone which was the detonator to the gas.

"Can you hear me now?" Emma then went into the room holding all the guests and found the diamond earrings. She removed the toxin from the setting and crushed the diamonds with a martini glass.

"Those aren't from my country," said Kalume's father.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Mister President," Emma replied. "Diamond, dust. A loyal son, a terrorist."

"Kalume?"

"I'm sorry," said Emma as she walked away. Later, Emma discovered that Caroline had left Kalume's house with Katherine. Katherine had been taken by Kalume and Caroline had rescued her. Unfortunately, now Caroline was still a member of The Syndicate.

"All I had to do was press a button," said Caroline to Emma and Damon at Emma's loft. "Kalume, the lab, Katherine. They would have all been gone. I would have been free and clear."

"So what stopped you?" Emma asked.

"You did. I asked myself what would Emma do?" Emma smiled.

"Do you know what she would do if she were you? Get out."

"We can still make that happen, Caroline," said Damon.

"I'm staying put. The day I was recruited you told me I could make a difference. This mission felt right. Felt good."

"Do you really think Silas is going to let you hold on to that feeling?" Emma asked.

"I don't know if I'm going to stay inside The Syndicate, but I am going to stay in this fight. Our fight. You know where to find me." Caroline left. Emma walked to the window.

"She has a right to decide for herself," said Damon, walking up behind his wife.

"That's what scares me."

"I heard it got a little rough."

"Yeah. But it was worth it."

"Are you telling me you think there's a good side to The Syndicate?"

"No. Not unless you were running it one day."

"Or you are."

"I like windows. We needed this, Damon. It was a good victory."

"It was."

"And you got to boss me around again."

"Not that you listened." They laughed.

"Just like old times."

"Not old times. New times." Emma leaned her head against his chest and he kissed her temple. Meanwhile, Katherine had reported to Silas in his office.

"Did you get it?" Silas asked.

"Yes, sir. I left it out of my report like you asked." She handed him a black bag and he removed a brick of Kalume's toxin.

"Good girl."


	4. All American Nightmare

"I did what you said. I did a surveillance sweep and there's no one physically watching my apartment. I can bolt at anytime. I can leave the car. I can leave the clothes. Everything. In fact, I don't even have to go back there now. I can set up right here," said Caroline in Emma's loft.

"This is not a good time to blow your cover and join me on the outside."

"Why not? What are you waiting for?"

"Look, we're doing really well. Apparently, Silas is freaking out because I've killed two of his Black Boxes. He called Damon in to help him secure the rest. We've got him on the ropes, but we can't afford to make a mistake."

"Fine, but you're just making my point. Damon is a way better double agent than I could ever be. You don't need me on the inside. You're the one who's always telling me it's too dangerous in there for me. I thought you wanted me to get out."

"When out meant Fiji. Not sticking around to fight The Syndicate."

"Emma, I look at you and you call your own shots. You're not running away from anything."

"That doesn't mean I can't wait for this to be over, Caroline."

"And when it's over, where do you go after that?"

Meanwhile, Silas was briefing Damon on a new assignment in his office.

"Plainview, Pennsylvania. Population: 7,500. A slice of small town Americana. Kind of place we're in the business of protecting. And the last place on earth anyone would ever think to find a Black Box."

"Not even Emma," said Damon.

"Let's be clear about this. There's only one reason she succeeded in destroying those two boxes. Kol. Sentinels are supposed to be perfect and he was far from it. When a component breaks down, the entire system needs to re-evaluated. Then and only then can the proper readjustments be made."

"What kind of adjustments?"

"This is the Plainview Sentinel. Agent Branson. I want you to surveil her. One 24-hour cycle. Do not initiate contact. Just make sure she's following protocol. Any behavior out of the ordinary, I want to hear about it."

"I remember Branson."

"Damon, this is Priority 1. I'm checking in on all four Sentinels simultaneously. Starting now." After the briefing, Damon went to talk to Alaric.

"Here's Branson's tracker ID. Word of advice. Don't let her catch you spying on her. Sentinels are tightly wound freaks. Just like their boss," said Ric.

"Silas is giving you trouble, huh?"

"God. The man is freaking out. He needs to chill," said Ric as he worked on his computer. "I've been on 24/7 Black Box duty all month."

"I guess Emma's got him pretty rattled," Damon replied, secretly smirking.

"Yeah. Right. Whatever."

"What?"

"Just try and pretend I'm not an idiot. Just give me that much." With Alaric's back turned, veins descended from Damon's eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"This isn't about Emma and you know it." As he turned around, Damon's veins and fangs receded. "It's about Operation Sparrow."

"What's Operation Sparrow?"

"Didn't I just ask you not to do that? I'm going to find out what it is in a couple of weeks when the operation goes active anyway so you may as well tell me now."

"Couple of weeks?"

"Oh crap. You don't know."

"Know about what?"

"Nothing," Ric replied quickly as he turned around in his chair.

"Alaric." Damon pushed Alaric's chair back around. "You're right about one thing. Whatever Operation Sparrow is I will be briefed before you. If you want advance word, then you better give me yours now."

"I've got nothing, man. Operation Sparrow. That's it. Silas has been hiding all the prep work on the Black Boxes."

"Don't you send the updates?"

"I encrypt them while he watches me. Look all I know is it's going down soon and it's big. Whatever it is."

Later, Damon went to Emma's loft to tell her the news.

"Remember the big changes Silas was telling me about? A move by The Syndicate against the government? I think that's what Operation Sparrow is codename for."

"So you want me to hunt down The Sentinel, get the box, but not destroy it."

"Yeah. And you better get going. We have about a six hour window."

"Wait. Whoa. I thought Silas gave you twenty-four hours."

"I have twenty-four hours to spy on Branson and report back, but if my report is that you showed up, kicked The Sentinel's ass, took the box, and I failed to stop you…"

"It'd look pretty suspicious."

"Which is why you need to get it done before I show up. That way I can tell Silas 'sorry, you sent me in too late.'"

"I don't like it."

"You've dealt with worse."

"No, I mean, I think we should destroy the box, not peek inside it."

"Cracking the box is the only way to get ahead of Silas. If I have to wait for him to brief me on Sparrow, then I think it will be too late." Emma sighed. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"When you told me that you found the third Sentinel, I got all excited. I thought we're half way to taking Silas down."

"Yeah."

"And then…"

"What? We live happily ever after in domestic bliss?"

"Stupid, right?" He hugged her. "It's noon. I better get going. I'm running out of time."

Two hours later, Emma arrived in Plainview at 70 Foxboro Lane, The Sentinel's address according to her tracker. Her gun drawn, Emma went around the back and twisted the porch doorknob off. She entered the house, closing the door quietly, and cautiously walked through the house. Suddenly, a man attacked her with a tire iron, pinning her to a wall.

"What the hell are you doing in my house!" She kicked him in the groin, took his tire iron, and hit him in the face with it.

"Where's the woman?"

"Who?"

"The woman who lives here. Lexi Branson."

"I swear, I have no idea who that is. I've been here for the last year on my own."

"Then where's the signal coming from?"

"What signal?" Emma then noticed a red glow from the man's keychain. A few minutes later, she called Damon on the satellite phone.

"We've got a problem. I'm sitting outside The Sentinel's house right now."

"Did she spot you?" Damon asked inside the firing range.

"No, but I don't think we're going to be able to pull this off in time."

"I'm reading she's in close proximity to her house. Right now."

"I know. I'm holding her tracker. I just don't know where she is. Pretty clever on Branson's end. Silas checks her tracker, looks like she's in town at her appointed residence."

"For all we know, she's sitting on some beach in the tropics. We have to scrap this mission. Clock is ticking and I need to get to Plainview for appearances. Maybe we can go to dinner right before I tell Silas his Sentinel is gone."

"Unless we don't. What if she's still here?"

"What are you saying? You think she removed the tracker and stayed in Plainview?"

"Just hear me out. All the Black Boxes are kept at banks. Sentinel protocol. There are three banks in Plainview, only one of them has safety deposit boxes."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Hurry up and get down here. I have a plan to flush her out."

After pretending to rob Evanston Mutual, Emma staked out the bank, waiting for the Sentinel to show up. And she did. She then texted Damon. _Found Sentinel. Call ASAP._ Emma then followed her to Metamora Lane and was shocked when she saw that the Sentinel was living with a man and a young boy.

"You've got to be kidding me." The Sentinel had a family.

That night, Damon met Emma at the Lakeview Restaurant. She was eating a sundae.

"Well, this is unbelievable," said Damon.

"I know. Ice cream?"

"We have less than an hour before I have to call Silas and what am I supposed to tell him? The Sentinel adopted a family? He'll send in the Cleaners."

"No."

"Emma, all we have to do is grab that Black Box."

"And when Silas finds it's gone? He'll kill Lexi and the cop and his son."

"We're not in The Sentinel Protection Program."

"We are now. There are civilians involved. Damon, if Silas didn't order this investigation, she could have flown under the radar for years. The only reason he ordered it was because of me."

"We get them out, they're going to be spending the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders."

"Worse ways to live."

"Name one."

"Apart. Alone."

"That's two."

"I know."

"What The Syndicate did to us, they'll pay for. I promise you." Damon took Emma's hand as she shivered at the memories. In the early days of The Syndicate, Silas wanted to break the vampires down and he did it by creating one rule. No romantic relationships in The Syndicate. That was a bit of a problem for Damon and Emma since they'd been married for centuries. Silas thought if he could break down the vampire leaders then all the vampires would follow his commands. He was right. He forced Damon and Emma to fight against each other in grueling matches. And when that wasn't enough The Syndicate killed Damon's brother, Stefan, and Emma's sister, Tatia. They broke down and succumbed to Silas' brainwashing. However, the two had been acting in secret. Their plan wasn't without its flaws though. The things they said and did to each other still hurt. And the pain of their loss would never go away. "Look, the way we live. I try not to spend too much time thinking about the future."

"I know that too. Look, Damon. We can help her. You have an hour before you have to call in."

"Yeah. If she takes our help. Remember she's a Sentinel. It's not like we can just show up on her doorstep." And that was just what they did. With Emma's arm hooked into Damon's, Damon knocked on Lexi's front door, holding a bottle of wine.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"You folks lost?"

"No, we just moved in around the corner," said Emma.

"We figured we'd get to know some of our neighbors. Hope you don't mind us stopping by like this," Damon added.

"Lee, who is it?" Lexi asked, coming to the door.

"Hi. It's great to meet you, guys," said Emma.

"This is Lexi," said Lee.

"I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?" Emma asked.

"We could come back another night," said Damon.

"No. Come on in. I'm sure there's enough pot roast to go around," Lexi smiled cautiously. A few minutes later, Emma and Lexi were staring each other down at the table. Damon broke the silence.

"This is some pot roast," said Damon. "Delicious."

"So how long have you two been together?" Emma asked.

"Eddie's mother died when he was young. I did the single dad thing for a while until I pulled this one over for speeding. Our first date on the shooting range sealed the deal," said Lee.

"Almost two years," said Lexi.

"I keep threatening to drag her down on to City Hall and make her an honest woman."

"So how long have you two been married?" Lexi asked.

"Two months," they both replied.

"But we've been in love for…"

"Forever," they both replied.

"Newlyweds?" Lee asked.

"Yes."

"Congratulations. How long until you start popping out the rug rats?" They both choked on their wine.

"We're taking things slow," said Damon.

"Lexi, is there a restroom?" Emma asked.

"I will show you."

"Great."

"And I will keep the men entertained," said Damon. The ladies walked upstairs and Lexi confronted her in the hallway.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"We don't have a lot of time. Listen to me. Silas is unleashing his inner psycho. He's lost two of his Black Boxes."

"I got the alert. If that's all you're after, you should have left my family alone."

"The Syndicate would have found you out sooner or later."

"No. I had a plan."

"And what was that? Plant your tracker on a townie? What was that going to buy you? A minute? Maybe an hour max?"

"That's all I need."

"To do what? To run or tell Lee the truth? When were you planning on doing that?"

"I just needed more time. If I told him who I was, I might lose them both."

"You might lose them both now." The two fought for a few moments before veins crawled down Emma's face and she grabbed Lexi by the throat. "I'm older than you, honey, so I suggest you listen to me. I'm here to help you." Emma then released her.

"Damon's still Syndicate."

"It's complicated, alright?"

"What's in this for you?"

"I want the Black Box, but not until I get you and your family out of here."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because right now, I'm the only person on your side." Emma then walked down the stairs.

"My time is up. I need to call in," said Damon to her in private.

"So call in."

"And say what? Whatever I tell Silas has to stand up to verification. Otherwise, he's going to think we're involved."

"We stick to the original plan."

"The original plan is blown."

"No. Lexi's agreed to run. All she needs is to tell Lee the truth, get him onboard, then you and I get the Black Box."

"Get Lee onboard about going on the run with his kid? That's going to take a lot of time. And we're all out of time."

"Here's her tracker."

"Emma." She dropped it on the ground and crushed it with her foot.

"Sentinel is gone. Offline." Damon then called Silas.

"Damon, reassure me."

"Afraid I can't, sir. Branson's tracker is offline. She's gone MIA. Emma is on the ground and she's after the box. I need a strike team here. Immediately." He ended the call. The couple then looked out the kitchen window to see Lexi and Lee arguing. "They've been out there for half an hour. Team's on its way."

"She's turning his entire world upside down. Give him a second." Lee burst into the house. Emma went after him. "I can't imagine what you're feeling, but I know that's the hardest thing Lexi's ever had to do."

"Other than killing? Or does that not bother you vampires?"

"It does. It's not like we had a choice when The Syndicate took us."

"She had a choice. She could have chosen to stay out of my damn life!"

"She loves you. She thought it was worth the risk."

"Maybe to her. I'm a police officer for God's sake."

"Try to work it out."

"It's not just us. There's Eddie. You expect me to set him down and tell him his future step-mother is a killer."

"Just please talk to her." He went into the hallway and saw the front door was open.

"Eddie!"

"What happened?" Lexi asked.

"He heard us talking about you."

"Oh my God. Lee, this is all my fault. Let me go find him," said Lexi.

"Syndicate team is on the way," said Damon.

"We don't have a lot of time then. I'm going to head to the bank, grab the Black Box. Damon, you rendezvous with The Syndicate team, keep them at bay. Lexi and Lee, you know the town best. Go in separate cars and find Eddie. When you do, get out of here as fast as you can," Emma replied. Once Emma was in her car, she received a call from Caroline.

"Hello?"

"Emma, thank God. I need your help."

"What's wrong?"

"Katherine. She came over and we got in an argument and…it happened so fast. She tried to kill me."

"Slow down. Where's Katherine now?"

"She's dead. I staked her. Emma, the body is here and I don't know what to do."

"Call The Syndicate. Tell them the truth. Say that Katherine attacked you and you were defending yourself. They'll send a Cleaner to deal with the body. Call me when the Cleaner leaves."

A few minutes later, Emma recovered the box from the bank. She received a text message from Damon. _Eddie hardware store on Green St. _When Emma arrived at the hardware store, she opened the unlocked door and found Eddie stealing cash from the register.

"Sure you want to be doing that?" Emma asked.

"You're not going to call the cops are you?"

"I'm not making any promises, but tell me what the plan is. Grab a Greyhound bus to the nearest city and then what? Start a vegan punk band?"

"Sounds better than staying in this crappy town with my dad and his psycho girlfriend."

"True. Want to know how psycho she is? There's a bunch of bad guys out there looking to kill her and instead of running, she's looking for you. What a psycho."

"She's probably trying to erase the evidence."

"She cares about you and your dad. I know what it's like to lose family. I've lost them all. But you haven't. When you have that, you have to hold on with everything you've got." Eddie put the money he stole back. "You ready?"

"Yeah." They headed for the front door, but stopped when they heard squealing tires.

"Get down." Agents fired rounds through the glass as Emma and Eddie hid behind a desk.

"I said hold your fire!" Damon yelled.

"There's no way out. We've got her pinned," said an agent.

"I'll give you the Black Box if you let the kid go!" Emma yelled. "He's innocent."

"That's fine. Let him go. Then we'll deal with the box," said Damon.

"This is crap!" an agent said to Damon.

"We don't need to add a dead civilian to this mess. Even Emma knows that." Eddie then ran out of the store. However, a Syndicate agent grabbed him.

"Emma, come out now!"

"What are you doing!" Damon yelled.

"She's not going to sacrifice him. He's our ticket to the Black Box and Emma. Emma, you're going to come out with the Black Box and let us restrain you or I blow this kid's brains all over the street! I'm counting to three. One. Two." Lexi then shot Damon's strike team down. Later, Lexi, Lee, and Eddie were preparing to leave Plainview.

"This blood sample will give you access," said Lexi, handing Emma a vial of blood.

"Thank you."

"Before you came, I was trapped. Stuck between two worlds and afraid to walk away from either one."

"Now you're in the one you belong."

"What about you? Think you'll end up in the world where you belong?"

"Lexi!" Lee called.

"Thank you. When you're out there fighting, you be careful okay?" Lexi then left with her family.

"Okay. I hope we can crack this thing. Otherwise, we have to look for new leads on Sparrow," said Emma when Damon approached her.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I can make plans for the worst case scenario. No problem. But when it comes to planning ahead for positive outcomes, I'm just…I'm not used to it. It does not mean I don't want one. It's just…it's been a long time since anything good has happened in our lives." Emma kissed him and they hugged as they walked down the street. "Have you heard from Caroline?"

"Not yet."


	5. Betrayed Me

"How much time do we have?" Emma asked when she arrived at her loft with Damon.

"Ric said the op would go active in a couple of weeks. I'm guessing Silas pushes back that timetable now that you have his Black Box."

"Operation Sparrow. Honestly, where does he come up with these codenames?"

"All I know is the more innocuous they sound, the more lethal they are. Silas usually plays things close to the vest, but this…"

"Paranoia. He's scared."

"He should be. Sparrow is an inside job. It's a move against the government."

"So assassinate the President? Fake a terror attack to start a war?" Emma noticed Damon's finger tapping on the box.

"Whatever it is, if it fails with Silas' fingerprints on it, he burns and he knows it."

"Hon, I don't think Morse code is going to break the encryption."

"There's only one person who can. And grabbing Ric is not going to be easy."

"Why not? I've done it twice before."

"Exactly. So he's going to be on the lookout for you. This time I don't think he's going down without a fight."

"He won't be on the lookout for you." Damon grimaced. "What?"

"Emma, if I do this, I blow my cover within The Syndicate."

"Damon, if we succeed, Silas goes down and you're free to go wherever you want…like here for example."

"It's been ten years living in that hell hole."

"Well, then it's time to come home." He kissed her.

"I should get over there in case Silas suspects anything."

"Damon, when you get there, will you check on Caroline? I should have heard from her already."

"Okay."

At The Syndicate, Esther was in Silas' office, shocking Caroline in an electric chair. She screamed in pain.

"That was just to test the chair. I wouldn't get up if I were you. The more you struggle, the more it hurts," said Esther as Silas walked in. "Good. You're here."

"Not good. I was right in the middle of things in Engineering. I can get the report on Katherine's death when you're done."

"I am done. And so is Caroline. She is Emma's mole. I intercepted a phone call she made to Emma for help while she was standing over Katherine's dead body."

"Is that so?"

"She won't answer you. She's all out of lies."

"Terminate her."

"There's more. She wasn't someone Emma picked up off the street. She's…"

"Karolina Fedorov," Caroline interrupted. "She was going to tell you she found out by examining my father's watch. The watch he was wearing when a Syndicate strike team gunned him down. Esther's very proud of this and hopes you'll give her a big kiss." Esther slapped her. Silas looked at her.

"I was looking forward to telling you."

"Karolina Fedorov."

"The long lost heir to the Fedorov corporate empire is alive. Well, as alive as a vampire can be."

"That is interesting. Good work."

"Thank you."

"You're excused."

"What?"

"I'd like to talk to our friend alone."

"But…" He sent her a glare. "There's no need to keep me out. I know what you've been busy with in Engineering."

"Do you?"

"Operation Sparrow. Silas, I don't keep secrets from you. I'd ask you to return the favor. You can trust me."

"You'll forgive me if I don't trust anyone right now." Esther handed him the remote to the electric chair. "No one outside this office needs to know about Karolina." Esther then left. Caroline smiled. "What's the smile for?"

"Now that I'm Karolina suddenly you want to talk. You don't know me at all."

"I know Emma has one of my Black Boxes and you're going to lead me to it."

"I'm not going to lead you anywhere. When I was human, I wanted to die. I had nothing to live for. I begged for Emma to turn me so I could infiltrate your ranks. I'm ready to die so you can try whatever you want. But you're going to have to kill me."

"Hmm. No. Today's the day I save your life." Meanwhile, Damon caught up with Esther in the halls.

"Esther! Your debrief of Caroline. What happened with that?"

"It's still happening."

"I'd like to see her."

"No one sees her until I'm done with the report."

"And when is that going to be?"

"I'm waiting for forensics to confirm that she killed Katherine in self-defense. Couple of hours." Damon then left for Ric's office, which was being guarded by two sentries.

"As you were," Damon said to the guards. "Ric?"

"Damon! Dude, you have to kill Emma."

"Okay."

"I know tortured reluctance and everything, but you have to."

"Ric, you look like you need some air."

"You think? I'm on lockdown here, Damon. Confined to The Syndicate. Do you see those two deltoids over there! They have to follow me everywhere I go. They even accompany me to the bathroom, Damon."

"Silas ordered this?"

"He doesn't want her to learn about Sparrow before it's hatched. He thinks she's going to try to decrypt Black Box #3 and he is convinced she's going to try to put a gun to my head to do it."

"Yeah. That's pretty crazy."

"That's just the beginning. Keeping me here under lock and key is just phase one. Silas is taking out everyone who even has a chance of breaking the encryption."

"Who's he targeting?" Ric showed him three dossiers on his computer.

"Targeted. A math professor at Cambridge, computer scientist in Bangalore…"

"These three can crack the box?"

"We'll never know. After they crypt this last cryptographer, I'll be the only one left who can do it and I will never ever see the sun again until you take care of Emma."

"Malcolm Mitchell. Electrical engineer. Consultant with the CIA. Silas is going after a company man."

"Yeah and all because Emmy has his third Horcrux. And I thought she was supposed to be protecting the innocent."

After Damon told Emma the news, she headed toward Mitchell's apartment. The analyst had just come home from a vacation in Hawaii. She was sitting in a chair when he came home. Thankfully, an invitation hadn't been necessary since the place was a rental.

"Hello, Malcolm. Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you."

"What are you doing in my house?"

"There are people trying to kill you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Two cryptographers dead. You'd be as well if you'd been in town." A few minutes later, The Syndicate kill squad entered the house. Malcolm played loud music as he hid behind a desk. Seeing a silencer, Emma grabbed a gun from an agent and banged him against a wall, knocking him out. She then tied a wire across the hallway. She used it to trip another agent and she snapped his neck. Malcolm turned off the music as a final agent entered the living room. Emma appeared behind the man with a garrote and sliced his head off.

"Wow," said Malcolm, rising from his hiding place. A few minutes later, Emma brought Malcolm to her loft. "You said you were taking me to safety."

"Yeah. This is a safe house."

"For you or me? Am I being kidnapped?"

"No. Those guys back there who were trying to kill you were trying to prevent you from cracking this," said Emma, revealing the Black Box, which she'd hidden underneath a broken piano.

"Then maybe I shouldn't. What's on it?"

"Plans for their attack that I'm trying to stop."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because I saved you Malcolm and because I'm not currently torturing you." Damon then entered the loft.

"Hey. Caroline's on hold in Estherland, but she should be emerging soon."

"Who's this guy?" Malcolm asked.

"We just sleep together. What do you think about the box?"

"This is a biometric sensor."

"Yeah. First level of security requires a blood sample. We have that. The rest is up to you."

"How soon do you need it broken?"

"Yesterday would be nice," said Damon.

"You can hook up to my computer. How long do you think it will take?"

"Well, if it's a public key with asymmetric algorithms and I do a brute force attack, we're looking at roughly a thousand years."

"Malcolm."

"Look, most locks are unbreakable if you're just guessing the key. My approach is different. I like to mess with the hardware that generates the code. I'm like the kid who hotwired the cable box in the basement to get the adult channels."

"At least he sounds like Ric," Damon smirked.

"If I'm going to break your box, I'm going to need my toys. Supercomputers, oscilloscopes, lots of other gear."

"Where do you keep your toys?" Emma asked.

"SCIF Room at CIA HQ."

Meanwhile, Silas and Caroline were still talking in his office.

"I have a limited amount of time to deal with Emma. I need you to help me with that," said Silas.

"No way in hell."

"We'll see about that. Do you know what this is?"

"Yeah. It's the only thing stopping Emma from putting a bullet through your brain."

"No. It holds the truth, which can be ugly sometimes, but we all deserve to see it. And the truth about you is that you've been manipulated by those closest to you."

"It was my choice to infiltrate The Syndicate. My choice to bring you down."

"Okay, but why? Why me? Because The Syndicate killed your family?"

"Yes."

"Wrong. The Syndicate was just the weapon. Someone else ordered the hit. Pale Fire. February 2005." He played a video of Christmas at the Fedorov Mansion. "So innocent. How'd you get from there to here?"

"It started the night you burned my house down."

"We used this video to plan the strike. It was given to us by your father's right hand man. For what it's worth, I regret our involvement in the action. If I had to do it over again, The Syndicate wouldn't be there."

"Are you apologizing?"

"I was following orders. I have someone ordering me to spy for them too. They call themselves Oversight and they made a deal to replace your father with a man more friendly to US interests."

"I know this. I get it."

"You do? Well, then I'm confused. Because if you do, why are you here when your real enemy is on another continent? Was that a choice you made or a choice Emma made for you? That's okay. I understand. You were what? Thirteen when it happened. Didn't know how to fight. All you knew was how to run. By the time Emma found you, you'd pretty much run yourself into the ground. Addicted, lost, Emma got you clean. Gave you the gift of vampire blood, gave you a sense of purpose. Only it was her purpose. Her agenda. Now, you're ready to die…for her. When you really think about it, how do you justify that?"

Meanwhile at CIA headquarters, Matt Donovan was working at his desk when he got a phone call.

"Matt, I've got Robert Allen on the line," said the receptionist. Matt accepted the call.

"How are you, Bob?"

"Donnie, I could stand to blow off some steam," said Emma through a voice modulator. "How about a game of racquetball tonight?"

"I'm kind of busy right now, Bob."

"Oh, but I let you win last time. Come on. I promise this will be our best game ever."

"In that case, I can probably shuffle my schedule around."

"Great. I booked Court 2. 7 pm. Downtown Y. See you there, buddy."

"Okay. Sounds good." He hung up.

"I'm meeting Matt at Platform 2. Union Station, downtown Washington," said Emma to Damon.

"What are you going to offer him?"

"Offer him? He wants to take Silas down as much as we do."

"Technically, you kidnapped the CIA's top code breaker. You think that's going to buy you some good will?"

"I thought I wasn't kidnapped," said Malcolm.

"You weren't. He wasn't. I saved him."

"You can't trust the CIA. They're the ones who exposed vampires!"

"You guys are vampires?" Malcolm asked, more than a little excited. Oh great. He was one of those humans.

"I don't trust the CIA," said Emma to Damon. "I trust Matt."

"Then you can trust Silas to be all over him. I'm coming with you."

"Hey, better for you to run interference inside The Syndicate, don't you think?"

"We can have Caroline do that. You need back-up on site."

"Where is she? You said she'd be out in a couple hours. It's been more than that."

"Three hours and twelve minutes since I arrived," said Malcolm.

"Esther has been more evasive than usual. Something's not right."

"Damon, get her out of there."

Back at The Syndicate, Silas continued his conversation with Caroline.

"The Syndicate might have been the weapon that killed my family, but you pulled the trigger," said Caroline.

"I'm trying to show you the truth. The whole truth. You don't have to take my word for it. It's all right here. Your father's right hand man left the proverbial back door wide open. He gave us the radio frequency for your father's security team. Some of the guards were in on it. Rest of them we took care of. We used US issued weaponry. Our mission was to make it look like anything, but an inside job."

"Stop!"

"Just one last thing." He showed her a video of Emma. "You want to know who pulled the trigger? That's your answer. Emmalyne Salvatore. Or did she forget to tell you that."

Meanwhile, Damon entered Esther's office, furious.

"Caroline isn't in debrief or holding. Where is she?"

"I really can't say."

"Yes, you can. You know everything that goes on here."

"I used to believe that as well. Lately, there seems to be a lot I don't know about. Operation Sparrow. You've heard of it?"

"I've heard rumors."

"So tell me."

"Tell me where Caroline is."

"Like I said, I really can't. Why don't you ask Silas? Damon, you were saying about Sparrow."

"Why don't you ask Silas?"

In Washington, DC, Matt was walking through Union Station when his phone rang.

"I've got company, don't I?" he answered.

"Two guys in overcoats at your seven o'clock. 30 yards back. Head towards the lockers. Locker 410."

"Open the bag?"

"No. Walk back through the concourse."

"You still want to meet on the platform?"

"Plan has changed. Head towards the metro."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Duck!" The two Syndicate agents tackled Matt and took the bag. "You okay?"

"I'll live. They grabbed it."

"Head toward the exit. Hurry." Matt then heard an explosion.

"Did I just bomb a train station?"

"A little paint never hurt anybody. I'll explain at G Street in five minutes."

In The Syndicate, Damon walked into Silas' office.

"Silas, I need a minute." He then noticed Caroline in the electric chair. "And she should probably go. I have sensitive information."

"So do I. Caroline is Emma's mole."

"How do you know that?"

"Esther told me."

"Why?" Damon asked Caroline.

"Go to hell."

"I blame you, Damon," said Silas.

"What?"

"This was your recruit. Your responsibility. Your mess to clean up." Silas pulled out a gun loaded with wooden bullets.

"We can still use her."

"No. She doesn't want to be turned. She'd rather die."

"Sir."

"Am I going to have a problem with you now?" Damon took the gun.

"No." He pointed the gun at Caroline and then turned it on Silas. "There is no problem."

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Something I've been waiting to do for a long time."

"Damon, get me out of this," Caroline cried.

"Careful," said Silas.

"Shut up," Damon growled. "Get me the remote for that chair."

"You can't do this." Damon cocked the gun.

"Watch me."

"You can't shoot me. My heart stops beating this sensor sends an alert to The Sentinels to upload the boxes. I don't think either one of us wants that to happen."

"That's okay. There's a lot of other places I can shoot you." Damon pulled the trigger and it shocked him, knocking him unconscious.

"You should know this, Karolina. Never trust your right hand man," said Silas.

"Is he dead?" Caroline asked.

"Not yet. Now the clock is ticking. Didn't take Emma long to send him in when she discovered you'd been compromised. Wonder how long it'll be before she starts worrying about him."

"What?"

"Well, she is running out of playing pieces."

"Play? Is this a game to you?"

"Not just any game. Chess. A match between Emma and myself. You're one of her pawns. I just captured her knight. And she's about to move her bishop, Matt Donovan. What she doesn't realize is that I'm always thinking several moves ahead. Come on. You're Russian. Your father must have taught you chess. Remember how a pawn can be converted to a queen by crossing all the way over to the other side."

"I will never be on your side."

"Nor should you be. You should be on your own side. You've got to start thinking for yourself, Caroline, Karolina, whoever you are. Who are you? I'll tell you who you are. You're the girl with a bomb in her brain. Though I must admit Emma demonstrated some very skillful tradecraft when she managed to disarm it. Your kill chip has been reactivated."

"Kill chip?"

"No. She didn't tell you about that either? You really are a pawn."

"You're lying!"

"No. No more lies. For the first time in your life, somebody is telling you the truth. There is a kill chip next to the tracker on your medulla that will drop you instantly at the touch of a button. Now if you weren't aware, the medulla is the center of your brain that possesses vampire healing. Once it goes boom, there's no saving you. Earlier today, you said you were prepared to die. If that continues to be the case, I respect it. On the other hand, you can leave The Syndicate and return to Emma. I'm not asking you to take her life. I'm not asking you to pull the trigger. All I'm asking you to do is exactly what she's done to you. Lie. You will be bugged and monitored. If you choose to run, if you choose to warn Emma, you choose to die. Or you can choose to live. Whatever happens in the next few hours will be your choice."

Meanwhile, Emma was talking with Matt in an alley.

"We've already lost two people. You need to bring Malcolm in. Now," said Matt.

"I intend to. Sort of. You're going to sneak us into the CIA. Once Malcolm decrypts the box, I split, you get him back. Win-win."

"No way."

"I will be out of there before anyone notices."

"This isn't some field office. You're talking about breaking into Langley. What you want has to be done in a SCIF room. And no one gets in there without SCI clearance which I don't have. Tom Cruise on a harness couldn't get in there."

"There has to be a way."

"There is. I'll give it to the people who can and I will convince them to let you sit in. Director Abbott is a good man."

"If it wasn't for this attack, then I wouldn't be looking into this box. I'd be destroying it."

"There's things about you on there."

"Yes."

"Things that could send you to prison."

"You know I won't get that luxury. I'm a vampire, Matt. They'll exterminate me just like the others."

"Emma, I can protect you. You were forced to do those things."

"I should have said no! I should have taken a wooden bullet in my heart."

"You don't have to do this alone."

"I'm not alone. That's the thing. It's not just me. I have someone to live for and he's on that box too."

"Going through the official channels is the only way I can help you. You have a tough choice to make."

When Emma returned to her loft, she saw Caroline.

"Emma."

"Hey. I've been worried about you. What's wrong? What happened?"

"I've been placed in inactive status pending final report."

"I mean before that."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. Why?"

"I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of there alive."

"And you blame me for that?"

"Why didn't you tell me to escape? I wanted out before Katherine died."

"Caroline, I gave you many chances to leave The Syndicate and you passed on every one of them. I wanted you out more than you did."

"I mean after that. When I wanted to leave my apartment, move in here…"

"Okay, it's much harder for you to walk away when they know you're still alive."

"You mean it's much harder for you to let me get away right now. You're the one who wants me to keep my cover."

"Until the surgeon takes out your tracker in a couple of weeks. Yes. Unless you have a better idea. I thought we agreed until then that you'd stay put."

"Is that what we agreed? Or is that what you needed me to do so you can keep on hunting your Black Boxes?"

"Caroline, I would have never let you go back in there if I thought you were in danger. The minute I didn't hear from you I sent Damon in to get you. Did he find you? What is it?"

"Damon's trapped inside The Syndicate. The Syndicate's on lockdown. All non-essential personnel have been ordered to leave including me."

"Operation Sparrow."

"Damon can't leave. And the whole place is under radio silence. He wanted me to get word to you."

"What'd he say?"

"He said that he heard chatter and that agents are mobilizing everywhere. About to hit targets all over the country."

"What targets? Where?"

"All he could get was a location of the staging area for the strike in New York. I have an address."

"Good. Now we have a target too."

"You're going to hit the staging area?"

"After I get Malcolm and the Black Box to the CIA. You're going to help me. Good thing you're non-essential."

"I've been ordered to stay home. I'm not sure I should be away," said Caroline as she backed up to a silver box, the camera around her necklace not able to capture what she was doing.

"I doubt anyone at The Syndicate will notice. Looks like they're going to be pretty busy. Suit up. You can borrow my BDUs."

"You're always taking care of me."

"Somebody's got to."

Later that night, Emma, Caroline, and Malcolm met Matt and a CIA squad at a cemetery.

"Malcolm, we're colleagues. Matt Donovan, CIA. How you feeling?"

"He's a little shaky," said Emma.

"Well, someone did try to kill him."

"It's not that. I've never been offline this long."

"Matt will get you back online as soon as possible," said Emma.

"I don't know how to thank you," said Malcolm.

"Just get cracking."

"I'm glad you decided to do this," said Matt.

"That makes one of us."

"I'll guard it with my life, Emma," said Matt as she handed him the Black Box. "Trust me. You must be Caroline. It's an honor to meet you. You're very brave."

"Not so brave."

"Being in that lion's den. Living a lie, never flinching. I couldn't have done it."

"I have a good mentor."

"I'm just glad I could help Emma deactivate your kill—"

"Your tracker. Whoo. That was quite the mission. Come on, Care. Let's go," Emma interrupted.

"Actually, I'd love to talk about it. You know…I never did debrief about it. How did you turn it off? Do you know anyone who can take it out? Emma says it's very complicated," said Caroline.

"We'll get your tracker out. Don't worry, Caroline. Right now we have to get to the staging area. Keep me posted, Matt."

Inside The Syndicate, Silas went to visit Damon in holding.

"Come to gloat?" Damon rasped.

"You think I enjoy seeing you in here? I thought I knew you. Then you surprised me. Such a man of principle. That's how I knew you'd turned."

"What?"

"When I first started feeling you out on Sparrow, I was wary to even bring it up. Wasn't sure you could roll with the hard decisions. But you changed your tune. So I did a little digging. Emma's a light woman with a heavy foot and there are a lot of traffic cameras in London. As fate would have it, we put in a call to you while you were sitting in the seat next to her. And then you proceeded to back up Caroline's story. So I knew the three of you were in it together. You recruited Caroline. It all made sense."

"Why did you let me live?"

"You don't have to get rid of people just because they make mistakes. Look at Lexi Branson. I knew about her family before I sent you to Plainview. I made a deal with her in advance. She could retire with the cop and his kid as long as she played along with the two of you. You know, losing a few early rounds to Emma was helpful. My losses made you overconfident. You didn't notice when I started to lose on purpose. Box in Plainview, Malcolm the Cryptographer. I gave you those victories. They were my victories."

"There is no way you could have pulled that off."

"I built this place. I've kept it running for years. You have no idea what I'm capable of pulling off."

"We're still going to stop Sparrow."

"Damon, I intended for Emma to deliver the box to Langley. I wasn't worried she'd give my box to the CIA. I was worried that she wouldn't."

"You rigged this whole thing."

"And I couldn't have done it without you." Silas then left Damon to see Esther.

"Sure is quiet around here. All these rumors about Sparrow, that we're launching some massive attack, but nothing seems to be happening," said Esther.

"You never give up do you? Hate to get on your bad side. You're right. Sparrow is not a major offensive. It's an extremely surgical strike."

"The box is a Trojan Horse, isn't it? What's really inside?"

"A nasty surprise designed to shake up the intelligence community. There's about to be a complete power shift. There's been too many Indians. Now there's going to be only one chief."

"And I'm guessing the reason you kept this from me is because I would've warned you what a dangerous gamble it is."

"And the reason I'm telling you now is to give you a heads-up. Everything is about to change. Just be glad you're on the right side of things."

As the sun rose over New York, Emma and Caroline arrived at a warehouse near the docks.

"Empty," Emma growled. "I was afraid of that. An alpha team has been tracking us for the past half hour."

"What? Why didn't you…"

"I didn't want to spook you. This isn't a staging area. It's an ambush. Damon was fed bad intel. He could be compromised. We've got to get him out of there. First, we ambush them. There's no cover here. This is what's going to happen. I'm going to be by that door. I'll pop them off one by one as they come in. You hold your fire. If they get past the kill zone, you keep them busy until I reload and leap frog back."

"I don't think that's going to work," said Caroline, drawing her gun. "If I'm going to die, I want to know."

"Caroline, what are you talking about?"

"Did you kill my father?"

"Put the gun down."

"I want to hear you say it!"

"Calm down." The gun fired.


	6. Do Or Die

Just as Emma fell to the ground, Shane, one of Silas' top cleaners, entered the warehouse with his team. He pulled Caroline away from Emma's body and called Silas.

"Shane, what happened? I lost video."

"Emma is dead. The girl shot her."

"Thank you, Shane."

"Should I proceed with the girl?"

"No. Have your men bring her back to The Syndicate. You stay, put on the finishing touches, and clean Emma."

"Understood."

Meanwhile, Ric visited Damon in his cell. Damon's wrists were severely burned from the vervain on his restraints.

"Didn't expect you," Damon growled.

"Ditto."

"What does Silas want you to tell me now?"

"I just came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Was it worth it?"

"What do you care?"

"I just find it semi-disturbing that the one person I was supposed to be able to trust here was lying to my face!"

"Trust?"

"Yeah! Trust. You know, we're supposed to be friends!"

"I know you set me up, Ric! Silas told you to bait me so I could fall into his trap. When you asked me what Operation Sparrow was, you already knew!"

"No, I didn't."

"You were dropping breadcrumbs and I fell for it because I decided to trust you."

"I didn't know it was a set-up, okay! Yes, Silas told me that you would be coming in and he told me what to say and when I asked him why, he made it sound like it was one of his stupid little loyalty tests, okay?"

"You're not stupid, Ric. You're just a coward. You know Silas is corrupt, but you turn a blind eye to save your own skin. That's your choice and you have to live with it."

"You know what, you even sound like her now."

"That's because my eyes are open. They have been for years. Emma is…"

"Emma is dead!"

"What?"

"She's dead, Damon. I was listening in over the coms. She…I warned her what would happen if she went up against Silas. I warned you too. Then you went and joined her. Encouraged her. That was your choice."

"Emma," Damon muttered as he sank to the floor. Centuries they'd lived together…only for it all to end like this. By the stroke of a pompous warlock. All that was left for him was revenge. And if it was last thing he did, he would have Silas' head.

In Washington, Silas met with Oversight at an empty restaurant.

"Sorry, I'm late. It's a bit windy out there. You're looking sharp, Bruce."

"Silas, no names."

"Why? We're not recording this, are we?"

"You know the rules."

"Forgive me, Senator, Admiral, Joint Chief. I sometimes forget you have names and reputations to protect."

"Your Syndicate was created to be invisible, to operate outside the bounds of government, using vampires for a more productive purpose. Get in, get out, leave no evidence. That was our covenant which you broke with these little Black Boxes," said the Joint Chief.

"Covenant? Wow. I knew this was a come to Jesus meeting, but covenant. That's old testament."

"You called this meeting, Silas. I think it's a bit overdue. The Boxes are dangerous," said the Admiral.

"The only thing on them are missions you ordered."

"And jobs you've done on the side," the Joint Chief interrupted.

"The bottom line is there are too many secrets in one place," the Admiral added. "You've got to get rid of them."

"So you can get rid of me?"

"Why would we do that?" asked Senator Carol Lockwood.

"I don't know. Why would you reduce my budget, forcing me to take jobs on the side?"

"Let me put this errand boy in his place," the Joint Chief growled.

"I'm done being your errand boy," said Silas. "I want a seat at the table, above ground."

"We talked about this. There are no seats to be had," said the Admiral.

"That's where you're wrong, Bruce, because in a few short hours the intelligence community will be experiencing a tectonic shift courtesy of an anti-government terrorist known as Emma. We have identified her as a lone radical. We've tracked her to a warehouse lair where she's been plotting a rather sophisticated attack against the heads of the CIA. Remember the bombing that took place at the conference in Geneva? Not only was she there. She made off with a rare nerve toxin, which she has planted inside the shell of a Black Box hard drive. Stay calm. This particular box doesn't have anything incriminating on it. It's just a very clever delivery system for the toxin. This Emma has apparently lured an ambitious young analyst over in Langley into believing the box contains a plot for a domestic terror operation codenamed Sparrow. And even as we speak he is unwittingly walking this little Trojan Horse into the SCIF room on the 7th floor. Once they finish decrypting the hard drive, they will invite Director Abbott in to take a look. Then when they click on Operation Sparrow, an electric charge will ignite, releasing the nerve gas, killing everyone in the room."

"This is insane. This is no terrorist. This is your attack!" the Joint Chief yelled.

"Oh, I know. I'm just telling you how the story will read. There will be no trace back to anyone at this table. We will all be completely protected."

"What do you want?" Carol asked.

"Right now? An appetizer and a cocktail."

Meanwhile in the warehouse, Shane was preparing to clean Emma when she suddenly awoke. Secretly, Caroline had injected Emma with tetradotoxin, pufferfish poison, and the result had mimicked vampire death. Disoriented, Emma threw bleach onto Shane's face. He screamed in pain and ran out of the warehouse. Seeing the materials Silas had laid out to frame her, Emma hurried out of the warehouse toward the CIA, unable to get Matt on his cell. In Washington, Silas was continuing his conversation with Oversight.

"You want to run the CIA? Have you lost your mind?"

"They're going to need a new boss by the end of the day anyway. And these are the three men our fearless leaders are most likely to pick for the job." He laid out three photos on the table. "Go ahead. Pick your puppet. Public needs a face it knows and trusts."

"As long as you call the shots," said Bruce.

"Why are you doing this?" Carol asked.

"I'm the guy you go to to get things done who isn't handcuffed to the Constitution. I realize the minute I'm no longer deemed necessary, I will be unceremoniously eliminated. So you ask me what I want? I want what every American wants. Job security."

"This isn't about job security. It's about money. If you control the CIA, you control its classified budget. 37 billion dollars. Your own personal piggy bank."

"I'm just looking to protect the American way of life." Silas's phone rang. "Yes? Mind repeating that."

"I said she's alive," said Shane as his face began to heal.

"I have to take this. Excuse me."

"We have to do something," said the Joint Chief to Carol.

"What do you think we can do? We've created a monster and our finger prints are all over it."

"Scrub the warehouse," said Silas when he reached the bar. "I know where she's headed." Silas ended the call and then contacted another agent. "This is Silas. You're being activated. A rogue asset. Emma. She's on her way to you."

Meanwhile, Emma was racing in a car toward Washington, DC, calling the CIA's front desk.

"Central Intelligence."

"There is a bioweapon disguised as a hard drive on your campus. SCIF room, 7th floor."

"Identify yourself."

"I'm under covert status. I can't identify myself on an open line."

"Ma'am, I can't transfer you without an extension."

"Bog chert voz'mi _(God damnit)_," Emma cursed in Russian, "You're useless!" Inside The Syndicate, the door to Damon's cell opened as well as his restraints. Cautious, Damon walked out of the room. A few minutes later, Emma arrived at CIA headquarters. "I need to speak with someone in intelligence. I hear you guys specialize in that sort of thing."

"Your name?"

"Emmalyne." She was later taken into a room by two agents.

"How do you know our protocols? And the names you mentioned?" one of the agents asked halfway into the interview.

"How about I tell you everything I know and I make you both heroes. All you have to do for me is call up to the SCIF room and tell them that your bosses are about to get their faces melted off. Just be a hero and make the call."

"Phone's dead," said the second agent.

"SRU. This one's been classified as a security threat. I'm going to take her in," said a Syndicate agent, entering the room.

"What did she do?" another agent asked.

"She just killed two intelligence officers." He shot both of them. Emma grabbed his gun, pistol whipped him, and shot him with it. Emma ran out of the room and discharged her weapon into the air. Alarms blared as people evacuated the hall. She stole a security badge and went up to the seventh floor. She shot at the door to get Matt's attention. He opened the door.

"Get out of there!" She got the Director and Matt out just in time before the nerve gas activated. Security then arrived. She placed her gun on the floor, her hands behind her head, as she looked at the security camera, knowing Silas was watching.

Inside the Syndicate, Damon arrived in Silas' office just as the man himself had removed his Black Box master drive from his safe. He kicked Silas in the stomach before he could reach his gun. Silas grabbed him by the throat, but Damon broke his hand.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking witches are stronger than vampires, boy," Damon growled as he grabbed Silas' gun and pointed it at him.

"I die, The Sentinels upload the boxes. You ready for that? Still can't make the hard choices can you?" Damon grabbed Silas' Black Box and pistol-whipped his former boss.

"That one wasn't too hard. I think I'll keep this." A few minutes later, Damon pointed his gun to the back of Alaric's head in his friend's office. "Don't move."

"Damon."

"Shut up! I want you to decrypt that."

"Just listen to me."

"I said shut up."

"She's alive."

"What?"

"Emmy's alive. She just tanked Silas' whole plan. Who do you think let you out of your cell? I did it remotely. I own this place, remember?"

"Why?"

"I figure if Emma can continue to give this hell hole the finger, I can at least cross mine behind my back. And I'm not a coward." Damon put his gun down.

"Where is she?"

"She's trapped inside Langley."

Inside the CIA, Matt had risked his career and reputation by pointing a gun at his boss so Emma could escape. She walked into a bullpen when she noticed a familiar voice.

"Paging Special Agent Emmy, paging Emmy, please proceed to the nearest phone and dial 626." She ducked into a cubicle and grabbed a phone.

"Damon?"

"You okay?"

"Oh, babe, I will be when you get me out of here."

"God, get a room," Ric groaned.

"Is that Ric?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, it's just like old times. Can you get a mobile com?" Damon asked.

"Give me a second." Emma noticed a security guard walking by. She knocked his legs out from under him and after rendering him unconscious, grabbed his radio. "SRU walkie. SKU: T4C731."

"Proceed out into the corridor east of you and make your way north."

"SRU headed your way," said Ric.

"Get rid of them," Damon replied.

"Unit 12, we have an intruder spotted in Collection Strategies Men's Lavatory. Please respond."

"Alright, here's what we're thinking for the ex-fil."

"Talk to me," said Emma on the radio.

"I have your escape route. You need to go out with the evidence. Sublevel 2."

"I'm here."

"Incinerator Room." Emma ran into the room and went down the garbage chute. When she escaped the CIA, she went back to her loft to grab some of her toys. She then called Damon.

"Where the hell are you?" he asked.

"I'm safe. I rode out on a garbage truck. They were still evacuating the building. I just got home."

"You're not safe there."

"Says the man inside The Syndicate."

"Look, Silas has been neutralized for the moment. He has sedatives in his desk drawer. I'm ten minutes away…"

"Five minutes," Ric interrupted.

"Five minutes away from walking out of here with a fully decrypted Black Box."

"What?"

"It is time to get a good look at the truth. All of it."

"Damon."

"I'll explain to you later. What's the plan?"

"I'm going to torch the loft. Meet me at the First America building at 2400 hours." Emma ended the call.

"You mind explaining to me?" Ric asked Damon.

"For every truth in that box, there is a lie out there in the real world. Innocent people who are being framed for crimes they didn't commit. Corrupt people who are in charge thanks to crimes no one knows about. That's got to end."

"So you're just going to go off and play Lone Ranger? Forget The Syndicate. You'll have the whole world hunting you down."

"Yeah. I'll try and keep that in mind." Ric handed him the box.

"I'm serious, man. Be careful. This box is like the Lost Ark. It's not of this earth. Truth on there is dangerous."

In the loft, Emma was setting charges when she felt a presence behind her. She pointed her gun on Caroline who was pointing her gun as well.

"I don't want any trouble," said Caroline.

"Should have thought of that before you shot me."

"I was trying to save your life. If I didn't do something, we both would be dead. I was compromised, but I'm clear now. I just came by to get my ID packet and then I'm going to go."

"Caroline, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Then drop your gun."

"Drop yours. Let's talk about what this is really about or what you think it's about. They told you I killed your father."

"You were just following orders, right?"

"No. Our orders were to kill your entire family. I chose to defy those orders and get you out. It was the first time I ever took a stand against The Syndicate. I headed towards your bedroom. I didn't have a choice. He was going to shoot me."

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

"There was never the right time. I didn't know how you'd react."

"No. You just didn't trust me enough to handle it. So now I can't trust you."

"None of this was my plan. If you hadn't tried to kill yourself right here, right in front of me, I would have never told you about The Syndicate."

"What you told me was that I had something to live for. Revenge. That's where I'm going. To get the man who ordered my father's death. I'm not running."

"Who told you all that? Silas? Esther?"

"Esther let me go. She deactivated my kill chip. This war against The Syndicate is your obsession."

"My obsession?"

"I have my own fight now."

"This was never about revenge, when I told you you had something to live for, I was talking about balance, I was talking about making things right. If you do this, you're going to end up somewhere you don't want to be."

"That's my decision."

Suddenly, Syndicate agents burst through the windows. Caroline and Emma fired on the agents, taking them out in quick succession. As reinforcements arrived, Emma and Caroline ran up the staircase. Before she left, Emma activated the charges she'd set in the loft. The loft exploded in a blaze of fire. When they reached the roof, Emma shot a grapple attached to a wire to the next building over. She zip lined to the other building.

"Come on!" Emma yelled. However, Caroline took her knife and cut the line. A few minutes later, Emma was walking down the street when a car arrived. Damon. She hurriedly got in and hugged him. "Damon."

"You know I'm really sick of people telling me that you're dead." They then took off. The following morning, they were driving through the countryside.

"Talk to me," Damon said as Emma fiddled with her daylight ring.

"This box is going to get us into trouble, you know?"

"Someone has to undo what's been done."

"What we've done."

"Stop thinking about past. We're talking about the future." He took her hand. She kissed his knuckles as their fingers intertwined.

"I know. The future's what I'm worried about," said Emma as storm clouds began to rise.


	7. Goodbye For Now

On a dark street, Emma walked inside a small convenience store, determination clear in her eyes.

"Do you have haggis here?" she asked the clerk. "I need three pounds of haggis. Cheap, no pig, bloody." The clerk showed her to a back room containing a gambling hall. She let two guards search her and placed her cellphone into a bin after giving one of the guards her coat.

"Nico, let the lady through," said the owner of the gambling hall, entranced by Emma's beauty.

"Thank you," Emma replied as she approached the table.

"You're welcome." She placed some cash on the table and threw two dice. The crowd cheered as she won. "Nice."

"You know, I'm feeling lucky. Let it ride." Emma threw the dice again. She won again. "Somebody up there must like me."

"Some people down here too. A few of them are wondering where's the boyfriend. You have one, yes?"

"Actually, my husband and I are on a break."

"Break? What man in his right mind would want to take a break from you?"

"He wasn't into taking the same risks that I am."

"Smart guy."

"They're your dice." He took the dice and threw them. He won. The owner then took Emma into a back room. "Please. I can explain."

"You want my money? Well, there it is." He pointed to cash lying on a table in the back of the room. "Go on."

"Please." He slapped her.

"Who the hell are you? How'd you find out about this game? How?"

"A little Black Box told me."

"A black what?" She kicked him in the head and tackled his guard, punching him in the stomach and taking his gun. "You should know something, bitch. There's no way you're getting out of here alive. Those men out there are going to put a bullet straight through you. Do you know who that money belongs to?"

"You should know something too," said Emma as she took off her shoes. "I didn't really leave my husband." The back wall exploded, revealing Damon on a motorcycle. Emma grabbed the money and ran out to the bike. The two old vampires then took off. Later, they reached their motel room. "How much did we get?"

"Just enough to cover our next mission. Barely. And this is what we have left over. Would you like to buy blood or ammo this month because we can't have both."

Because of the discovery of vampires, the public had resorted to drinking vervain even though they were led to believe all the vampires were dead. Humans and their paranoia. Vampires had been given no choice but to resort to buying their blood off the black market. And any vampires that had been a member of The Syndicate were left with no bank accounts. The United States had seized all their assets for their own use. The once wealthy Salvatores had been left with nothing.

"There's a third choice," said Emma as she put on one of Damon's shirts.

"What's that?"

"We take all this and you and I buy a little cottage in the non-extradition country of our choice."

"There's nowhere we can go where The Syndicate won't find us. Taking them down is the only way to get free."

"They're not looking for us, Damon. They're looking for this box. They're afraid of what we're going to do with their secrets," said Emma as she pulled the drive out of a Bible.

"Good. They should be."

"I mean they're afraid we'll go to the public. Plunge the world into chaos, start World War III."

"We would have done that already. Where are you going with this? Do you want to give that back to them?"

"In pieces. I would destroy it. I would give them proof that it's destroyed."

"Emma, every dirty Syndicate op is on this box. This is our chance to set things right."

"What if we make it worse?"

"How? How would we do that?"

"Sometimes, Damon, you try to do the right thing and it just…you cause more damage."

"This is about Caroline, isn't it?"

"With any hope Caroline is a million miles away from this."

"You still feel responsible for her."

"I put her in the line of fire."

"No. She put herself there."

"I trained her to infiltrate The Syndicate. I kept things from her so she would stay on mission. And then I lost her because that is what I deserve."

"Emma, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I did. And now I have doubts."

"About us?"

"No. Never." He sat down on the side of the bed with her and she took his hand. "About this crusade to make things right and what it could cost us. I can't lose you. I won't lose you. And if that seems selfish to you, well, I never said I was perfect." Damon silenced her with a kiss.

"You are not going to lose me. And you're right. You never said you were perfect. I did." Emma smiled and kissed him. The following morning, the couple went over their newest assignment.

"Alright, I've purchased all the gear. Let's go over the mission. Operation Game Change. January 2004. Approximately $1 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds was heisted by terrorists," said Damon.

"At least that's what the world was told."

"That's right. The terrorists were really a Syndicate strike team."

"I've seen The Syndicate cover their tracks but this is…"

"Well, the bigger the lie, the easier it is to believe. Fortunately for us, there was one man who saw through it all even back then. The Pentagon sent in their own investigator, Captain Tony Merrick. Evidence that pointed to the terrorists was left behind for him to find, but he found some of his own evidence that proved it was an inside job. Silas couldn't afford to let that information come to light, so he buried it and Merrick. Killing the lead investigator would draw too much attention, so he framed him for the beating of an Iraqi civilian to death. He's currently serving year seven of a 30-year prison sentence."

"If this guy has evidence of an inside job, why isn't he using it to clear his name?"

"According to this, Tony stashed the evidence before his arrest. He must have known he was in danger. If we can find Tony's evidence, it'll expose Oversight. This could be the first step to bringing them down."

"And all we have to do is break someone out of military prison to do it."

"Yeah."

Later that day, Emma and Damon arrived at Leavenworth in Navy uniforms.

"ID please," said a guard. Emma showed him her badge and he handed it back.

"Thank you."

"No, no, no. You're not going on this one," said Damon, recognizing her smirk. "You took the casino. This one's mine."

"Not why I'm smiling."

"What?"

"I love a man in uniform." They proceeded through the checkpoint and Damon later met with Tony in an interrogation room.

"Who the hell are you?" Tony asked.

"I'm a friend."

"I didn't ask to see you. What do you want?"

"I know you were framed, Tony. I'm here to help." He pulled an ID bracelet out of his jacket. "Switch this with the one that you have on now. It belongs to someone who's scheduled for release today. Look, trust me. It's legit. I spent a lot of money on this."

"Look, I don't know who sent you, but you have got to believe me. I have not said a word to anyone."

"Tony, they can't harm you when you're out of here. After we recover your evidence…"

"There is no evidence. I was not framed. You got that? I am guilty as charged. Just let me do my time."

"Look."

"Guard!" Damon then punched him. Two guards entered.

"Sir, stand back. Let us secure him." Damon punched one guard and then took out another with a quick kick to the face. After changing Tony's clothes with a guard's, Damon dragged him out into the hallway.

"Hey!" he yelled to a guard down the hall. "Prisoner's tearing up the interview room. You better get up there." Damon then ran at super speed out of the prison to Emma's car. He put Tony in the back seat as Emma started the car.

"He didn't want to leave," said Damon as he entered the passenger seat.

"Why not?"

"He said he was guilty. Something else is going on here." Emma took off breaking the gate of the security checkpoint.

An hour later, Emma woke Tony up with smelling salts.

"Relax, Tony. We're not gonna hurt you," said Emma.

"Sorry about your jaw," Damon added.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Listen, carefully. Right now you are an escaped convict and we are accomplices in your breakout. Problem is a secret unit of the government is going to suppress who we are. But you are still going to be the focus of a nationwide manhunt," said Emma.

"This was a setup."

"According to information we have, you were already set up, but, back in that prison, you told me you were guilty," said Damon. "Why?"

"If you know I'm not guilty, then why break me out? Why not present your information to the ACCA? Or to the civilian press?"

"We know you were threatened, Tony."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"No. They didn't threaten me. They threatened my son. If I say anything, they will kill him. He told me they will not hesitate."

"Who?" Emma asked.

"I didn't get a name. Right after I was arrested he came to visit me. He asked me where I stashed the evidence. I figured he was part of the conspiracy so I told him where he could stick it. He told me that my son, Justin, would play the price for my insult. I told him, just as long as you do not touch him, my mouth will stay shut and that evidence will stay buried."

"You let the whole world think you were guilty?"

"I don't care, but Justin – it killed me that I couldn't tell him. He grew up hating me. He wouldn't even come to visit me. But at least he was safe. Until today. I know you guys think you're helping, but you just made it worse."

"We will find Justin and we will make sure he's safe." Emma's phone then rang.

"Emma?" Caroline asked, not sounding well at all.

"Caroline?"

"Hang up," said Damon, alarmed.

"Where are you?" Emma asked.

"Think. How does she have this number?" Damon asked.

"It was our emergency backup. It can't be traced. It's a web number. Caroline, are you all right?"

"No, Emma, you were right. I'm pretty bad. I tried to do it all on my own and now I'm somewhere that I don't want to be and it hurts."

"You aren't on Red Eye again are you?" Red Eye was a popular recreational drug created by vampires for vampires and humans and it was highly addictive and dangerous.

"It was just a little bit. Something to get me by."

"Where are you?"

"Brighton Beach. I was looking into the Russian Mafia, trying to get a lead on Kaminski."

"I'll take Tony. We'll get his son."

"She sounds bad, Damon."

"I looked him up. He's in Manhattan. We won't lose any time."

"Caroline, stay where you are. I'm coming to you."

Emma walked out of the hotel room to the bike. Suddenly, black SUVs pulled up. Emma saw them and then a well Caroline from across the parking lot. Emma ducked as Syndicate agents fired. Damon came out of the motel room shooting. Damon threw her a gun and she joined in the firefight.

"How much ammo you got?" she yelled.

"Not enough."

"There's no way out." Just as the words left her mouth, two drones appeared from the sky and fired on The Syndicate agents and blew up two propane tanks. The drones then circled back and launched vervain gas, knocking Emma and Damon unconscious.

When Damon woke, he was in an unfamiliar house. Emma was lying on a bed while Damon and Merrick were on the floor. Damon climbed on the bed and woke Emma up.

"Syndicate. Damon, Caroline is with The Syndicate," she said quickly, still drowsy from the vervain.

"Shh. We're not in The Syndicate. I don't know where we are, but how do you feel? Can you move?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Cause whoever captured us didn't take my knife," Damon replied, removing a knife from his boot.

"It wasn't a capture, Dingleberry. It was a rescue," said Ric, walking into the room, wearing shades and eating out of a bag of potato chips. Damon grabbed him in a chokehold. "Hey, I just saved your life, man!"

"What is this? A safe house?" he asked.

"It's my house. Look around you, man. Does this look like The Syndicate? You said it yourself. I left. I'm out."

"Damon, check his tracker," said Emma.

"Get off me, man." He threw Damon off him and pulled up his shirt, revealing a small scar. "Removed. Duh. Did you seriously think I was gonna stay down on The Farm after I decrypted Silas' Black Box? Esther would have had my ass."

"What do you mean Esther?" Emma asked.

"She's queen bee now. They're keeping Silas on ice. God, you know, I forgot how dense you guys can be. You're going to make me regret doing this."

"Why are you helping us anyway?" Damon asked. "And how? Those attack drones were…"

"Advanced? Next level? Illegal? Expensive? Um, yeah. But see that's okay because I have money. Lots and lots of money. Money that I would like to keep. A dream currently being threatened by the two of you."

"Listen, Ric…"

"See, you guys just always thought, I was the little computer geek," Ric interrupted Emma. "You never realized that I was the balls. Before The Syndicate got their claws into me, I was siphoning bank accounts from all over the world."

"You planted a tracker in the Black Box and that's how you found us," said Damon.

"It wasn't a tracker. It was a line of code I wrote in when I was decrypting the box. It's supposed to ping me with its location whenever it went online, and lately it's been online a lot," Ric pointed as Merrick walked into the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Merrick asked.

"We're working on it," said Emma.

"You guys want to bring heat down on yourselves, fine. I can't afford it. I've got lots to lose. So you are gonna make it clear to The Syndicate that we are not working together and that I'm not into these Black Box shenanigans."

"So you seriously rescued us so that we could tell The Syndicate that you're _not_ working with us? I think there's a flaw in your logic, Ric," said Damon.

"They don't know who rescued you. Okay?" Ric replied sheepishly.

"Aww, nerd," Emma cooed. "You're lonely."

"What?"

"You're lonely. And you have no friends and you missed us, so you saved us. Thank you." She hugged him.

"Hate to break it to you guys, but there's like no one who misses you less than me."

Later, Emma was looking out the window of Ric's house when Damon walked up to her.

"We're all set. Ric located Tony's son and he's graciously agreed to let us use one of his cars. I think he's second-guessing rescuing us," said Damon.

"He's right. Ric. About us. The game has changed and I didn't even see it."

"There's no way you could have known that Caroline was working with The Syndicate."

"It just doesn't make any sense."

"She wants revenge for her family and she's hoping they can help her out. It makes perfect sense. Especially when that's all you can think about. Trust me," said Damon, thinking back to the day when The Syndicate killed Stefan. Emma stroked his face.

"But Caroline knows the truth about them. It's like she's so lost she follows the first trail she finds even if it's the one that leads her straight to hell."

"Emma, you are not responsible for her anymore, okay?"

"Or I'm responsible for her for the rest of my life. She's my blood, Damon. It exists inside her." Damon hugged her.

Later that night, Emma was at a club while Damon, Ric, and Merrick monitored from Ric's house.

"Do you see Justin?" Damon asked Merrick.

"No. Not yet. But it's been eight years."

"His credit card was just charged a couple of minutes ago. He's got to be there," said Ric.

"Damon, Syndicate's on site. Possible grab team."

"Copy that. Setting a smoke screen. Make that call, Ric."

"Remember what you promised."

"I'll let them know that we're not working together," said Damon as he activated a camera. His call was accepted by Esther. "Hey, there. Long time no see."

"Damon, this is a nice coincidence," Esther replied.

"Why is that?"

"Because I was just thinking about you."

"Well, you were always very thoughtful. That's why I decided to reach out, see if we can make a deal."

"You ship me the Black Box, I call off the hounds?"

"No, no, no. One thing at a time. I give you the evidence that Captain Merrick stashed, and you tell the authorities to call off the manhunt for him. Maybe you can officially fake his death. You're good at that."

"You were as well. By the way, where's Emma? Shouldn't I be talking to the person in charge?"

"I'm in charge. Emma doesn't want to see you right now." Suddenly, Ric realized the Syndicate was trying to trace his call.

"Oh no, you didn't. These noobs think they're so good."

"You know this brinksmanship is truly pointless," said Esther to Damon. "Your conflict with The Syndicate is really a conflict with Silas and he's been removed."

"Are you offering me my old job?"

"I too want to clean up the dirt he saved on that box."

"Yeah, and I know exactly how you like to clean things up."

"Let's not focus on the past. It's a new day here. We can make a fresh start."

"We got him," said Jenna, having completed the trace.

"You guys think you are badass, huh?" said Ric, coming in front of the camera, knocking Damon out of the way. "You are nothing. You're air. It takes a whole squadron of you rejects to even get close to me and I want you to die knowing that." Ric then walked away from the camera.

"By the way, Ric is not working with us," said Damon, trying not to laugh.

"I'm afraid this negotiation is over, Damon," said Esther.

"What negotiation?" Damon asked before turning off the camera.

In the alley behind the club, Caroline had grabbed Justin and placed him in her car. As she drove down the alley, Emma walked down the road toward the car, firing her gun. The car crashed into a dumpster and Emma pulled Justin out of the car. As the kid ran, Caroline exited the car.

"Emma! Drop your gun." Emma dropped it.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me?"

"I've done it before."

"To save my life, right? What's it gonna be for this time? Or do you even know? Or does Esther have you so turned around you don't what to believe?"

"I know what I believe and I know what I want and I'm using The Syndicate to get it."

"They are using you. It's what they do. You can't trust them."

"I don't trust anybody!" Emma flipped the gun out of Caroline's hand. The two fought and Emma pushed her away.

"Stop," she warned. Caroline kicked her, but Emma threw her on the hood of the car. "I said stop." Caroline went to punch her, but Emma grabbed her wrist. "I warned you. Now you have to pay the price." She broke Caroline's arm, shattering the bone. Even for a vampire that would take a few days to heal. "Get out while you're still alive." Emma shot her in the kneecap with a vervain bullet. Emma then ran off at super speed.

The next day, Ric and Damon were watching a news story. A member of Oversight had taken the fall for Operation Game Change. It had been revealed that a Joint Chief of Staff had arranged the heist and that Merrick had been framed. Father and son had been reunited.

"I'm surprised the feds took Tony's deal," said Ric.

"I'm not. They get his evidence. It makes 'em look like heroes." Damon walked into the bedroom Emma was in. He sat down on the bed as he watched her stare into nothingness. "So we know from the code names on the box there are six members on Oversight. That's one down, five to go. That means we're one step closer to home."

"I don't know. Don't get me wrong. I want to stop running. I've been running all my life. I want a home. I just want to be able to live with myself when I get there," said Emma, unable to remember the last time she and Damon had settled down.

"Hey. It's gonna be hard enough living with me," he smirked. They laughed and he kissed her shoulder.


	8. They Hit Without Warning

When Ric entered his house with groceries, he saw Emma sitting in his desk chair, looking at a snow globe sitting beside his computer.

"'Hey, Ric. I need to use your computer. Is that cool? Sure, Emmy. Thanks for asking,'" he mocked.

"Ric, I need to borrow a hundred grand. Is that cool?" Emma asked.

"See how easy that – wait a minute. What?"

"We have a lead that could help us identify another member of Oversight."

"_We_ have a lead?"

"Spain's defense minister is doing business with an Oversight member. One of his staffers is willing to sell us the identity, but he needs a lot of money and in 24 hours. So we're going to have to take your jet to Lisbon."

"Hmm. No."

"No?"

"Get used to that sound, baby, 'cause I'm not joining you on some crusade to take down Oversight. And you are not taking my jet anywhere."

"Right, because this is about you, right, Shadowwalker?"

"Well, it is my life and my house. In fact, I think you and Damon should start looking for new digs," said Ric as Damon entered the house.

"There's something you need to see," said Damon as he turned on the news.

"The suspect was shot twice by the Senator's security detail. Eyewitnesses describe Lancaster as being in a trance-like state," said a news reporter.

"This is V9," Damon growled.

"No way. Nobody got out alive," said Ric.

"Apparently, the kid just suddenly change. People said he looked like he was in a trance."

"V9?" Emma asked.

"You were in Sydney on an undercover op at the time when V9 was developed. Do you remember Eustice, the militia group that got into the siege with the FBI in 2003?"

"Yeah, FBI raided the compound and they burnt the cult down."

"It was no cult. That was a cover. The compound housed a program to breed vampire assassins – V9."

"An assassination program that's different from The Syndicate?"

"Way more X-Files," said Ric. "They used a super-teched-out version of hypnosis, neurohypnotic reprogramming."

"When they were done, they put those people back in the real world with no idea what had happened to them – sleepers."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because those weren't FBI agents who raided the compound. It was The Syndicate. Oversight had hired Dr. Joseph Mars, a brilliant neuropsychiatrist who specialized in brain waves. He was killed along with everyone else."

"Man. I can still hear the sounds from that day – screams," said Ric.

"What happened to those people is terrible," said Emma, "But the chances of this being V9, I mean…"

"They said Lancaster was happy. He was doing well. He just put 10k down for an ice cream truck. Does that sound like somebody who's planning to commit an assassination? Ric, transfer the schematics of the Eustice compound to my phone. That should give us an hour or two to get there."

"Damon, we lave for Lisbon tonight, remember?"

"Change of plans."

"Whoa. We can't just drop everything because you have a hunch. Our contact is waiting for us. If we don't show, he will get spooked."

"I understand. If V9 is back…"

"_If._ Lisbon is real. We've been waiting months for a shot like this."

"If you think Lisbon is more important, then you go."

"If I think Lisbon's more important? Wait a minute. So taking down Oversight, putting a dent in them…all of a sudden not a priority for you."

"If I'm right, God only knows how many sleepers are out there and how many assassinations are planned. Oversight can wait. This can't." Damon walked out. Ric cleared his throat.

"As much as I love hosting couples therapy, you guys need to hit Craigslist. You've got till the end of the week."

Later, Damon arrived at the Eustice Compound. He looked at the map of the compound when he heard footsteps behind him.

"I thought this was a restricted area," said Emma.

"What changed your mind?"

"I thought about you here alone and I didn't like it."

"But you still don't believe me."

"I believe in you and in us. What are we looking for?"

"Part of the original objective here was to retrieve the research Dr. Mars kept on file, something we failed to do in '03."

"Probably because it burnt up in the fire."

"Maybe, maybe not. According to Silas' private notes on the box, Mars had a private safe hidden in his office. We radioed the doctor, told him to line up everyone for extraction. They thought the killers coming through the door were a rescue team."

"No wonder this place feels haunted," said Emma as they walked through the charred building. They heard a gun cock behind them.

"Emma."

"Kol? Kol, what are you doing here?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Answer the question," said Damon.

"I know about this place 'cause I was on the strike team that burned it down. Now answer my question."

"I quarterbacked the op."

"So you saw that kid on the news. You came to track down the survivor."

"There were no survivors."

"Kol, what survivor?" Emma asked.

"The guy that invented the program. Joseph Mars. I saved his life. Silas ordered me to extract Mars but he didn't want anybody to know. That's why everyone else had to die. Mars knew that stimulating certain parts of the brain would improve focus, the senses. Silas had him create something to give Syndicate agents an edge."

"The Regimen," said Damon.

"How low is your supply?" Emma asked.

"It's getting low."

"Want to warn us before you turn into the Tasmanian Devil again?" Damon asked.

"I find Mars, I find my way off of it. Before the attack on the Senator yesterday, I didn't even know if the guy was still alive. Last time I saw him, he was trying to take his research with him, but there was no time." They checked the underground safe. It was empty.

"Looks like he made the time to come back for it," said Emma.

The following day, Kol, Emma, and Damon attended an event in Manhattan the Senator was partaking in.

"You clean up nice. First time I've seen you look like a girl," said Kol to Emma.

"Oh, Kol. We need to work on your compliments."

"Keep an eye out for people on cell phones. I'm guessing that's how Mars activates his sleeper," said Damon before the three split up.

As Emma scanned the room, she spotted Caroline. They looked straight at each other. Emma looked around and then spotted the sleeper.

"Purple dress. She's headed toward the Senator," said Emma through her com. "Hurry." Caroline saw the woman and tackled the Senator to the floor. Emma elbowed the woman in the face and Kol took her out of the room. Later that night, Kol, Emma, and Damon returned to Ric's house.

"So where'd you get a Black Box?" Kol asked. "Come on, Emma. I'm not stupid. The things you know about V9 and the op, all those details. I was on the ground. I don't know half that stuff."

"Damon took Silas' master drive when he left The Syndicate."

"So you peeked inside it. I thought you were 'Miss Destroy All Boxes.'"

"He convinced me that this one we would use for good."

"Oh. So you and Damon can handle all the dangerous secrets, but I can't."

"Am I wrong? Last time I saw you…"

"I was suffering from Regimen withdrawal when I tried to upload the box in London. I wasn't in a sound state of mine. I'm better now, Emma."

"You still need a cure."

"Yeah, and once I get it, I'm gonna hunt down the rest of Silas' Sentinels, and I'm gonna destroy their Black Boxes and then I'm gonna finish Silas."

"I won't stop you."

"You mean you won't try." Emma smiled.

"Who are you? What am I doing here?" asked Alicia, the woman who'd tried to kill the Senator.

"We had to get you away from the cops, but you're safe here. Look, I know this is scary. Nothing makes senses, but you have to trust me."

"Everyone in the tri-state area with a badge and a gun is looking for this girl," said Ric to Damon in another room. "They track her back here and I'm toast."

"We are the only ones who know she's innocent. We have to help her."

"There is no we, okay? There is me and there is you. Now, get rid of her or you and your super-friends crew gots to go. Don't give me the glare of intimidation, okay? I know you won't hurt me."

"No, but I might," said Kol, entering the room, eating from a bag of potato chips.

"Those are mine, man." Kol took another bite just to irritate Ric.

"You're kind of small. You'd dissolve quick."

"Whatever. Just remember, you're on your own with this one."

"Okay," said Damon. He then looked at Kol. "Effective."

In the bedroom, Emma handed Alicia a glass of water.

"I was going to kill him. I mean, I don't even kill spiders when I find them at home."

"I believe you, Alicia. Someone did this to you. They trained you to kill without giving you a choice."

"How? I don't remember anything."

"What about him?" She showed Alicia a picture of Dr. Mars.

"That's Dr. Francis from the Vory Clinic. I went to rehab there. Pain pills."

"Well, you got clean. That's all that matters."

"I tried NA, therapy. Nothing worked. Then one day I got this letter from Vory. They said they could change the feedback loops in your brain so you wouldn't crave a fix. I figured I had nothing to lose."

"What do you mean change the feedback loops?"

"I'd wear these headphones and sensors to monitor my brain waves. Then I'd get kind of sleepy, and…next thing I knew, I was awake and that need…it was gone. Oh my God. You mean this whole time it was Dr. Francis?" Emma walked out of the room and told Damon and Kol what she'd discovered.

"We've got to raid the clinic and grab him," said Kol.

"There are rehab patients in there. We need to find out how many and what kind of security Mars is using. Mars would recognize Kol. He wouldn't recognize me."

"Damon, my love. JAG officer, yes. Junkie, no," said Emma.

"Hey, I've passed as worse. Infiltration is our best chance at getting recon."

"I know. That's why I'm going. I was addicted to Red Eye before. I know how to play the part."

The next morning, Emma infiltrated the clinic while Damon and Kol waited in the car.

"I'm in. I have ten minutes to fill out a questionnaire."

"Do you see Mars?" Damon asked over the com.

"No. They must do the treatments in another wing or something. I'll let you know what I find."

"Emma, be careful."

"You get how lucky you are?" Kol asked Damon. "You got out of The Syndicate with the woman you love. That's what I used to want for me and Eliza."

"I know what happened to Eliza. I'm sorry. When things like that happen, you feel like the sun should turn dark. The earth should stop spinning, but the world keeps going on around you."

"Curse of a vampire. You wonder if it's a place worth living in. You and Emma…why are you still living this life? If I had a chance to do it over again, I'd just take off with Eliza. I wouldn't wait for the right moment. Cause that's when it happens. The threat you don't see coming." A few minutes later, Damon heard Emma in trouble. He cocked his gun. "Wait. We have no idea where she is or how many guys we'd be dealing with. We'd be going in blind."

"Maybe we don't have to." He called Ric. "Ric, I need you to hack into Vory. Phones, security cameras, the works."

"I'm sorry. Did you just say you need me to…"

"Mars grabbed Emma."

"Give me two minutes." Damon and Kol then left the car. Damon saw Kol pulling out an assault rifle.

"Where the hell did you lift that from?" Damon asked.

"You always assume the worse of me."

"All I know is that gear costs 10k and the last time I checked, you were unemployed."

"Yeah, well a lot of people are willing to pay for my skill set."

"Yeah? Like who?"

"Okay, looks like your best point of entry is gonna be the southeast corner," said Ric.

"On my count. One, two, three." Kol and Damon kicked the door open. Alarms blared.

"Stay to the right," said Ric. "On second thought, maybe not."

"Talk to me, Ric."

"Three of them. Armed, dead ahead." Damon and Kol fired on the men.

"I think they're out," said Kol.

"Judging by the sound of it." A gun then cocked behind Damon's head. He rose from the floor and after feeling the barrel on the back of his head, he moved at super speed, threw the gun out of the man's hand and punched him unconscious. Kol and Damon then entered an office where they saw Emma had just killed Mars' final guard.

"You," said Mars, recognizing Kol.

"I want everything on the Regimen, every formula, every piece of research, all of it." Mars pressed a key on his computer, which activated the sleepers. Kol pushed the man into the wall while Emma and Damon went outside to see people walking around.

"What's happening to them?" Emma asked.

"They've been triggered, but I don't think they've got orders." Suddenly, one of the sleepers grabbed a gun and shot Mars. Damon knocked him out right before his phone rang. "Yeah?"

"It's Alicia. She heard the tones at the clinic and got all zombified. She grabbed a gun and took off. I'm tailing her now, but I'm not sure where's she's headed."

"She's back on her original mission."

"God, I'm so stupid. I should have remembered the tones. She doesn't deserve to go out like this, Damon."

"Alicia's been retriggered. Two guesses where she's headed," said Damon to Emma.

"St. Joseph's Hospital where the Senator is recuperating. Damon, he'll be crawling with security. She'll get herself killed."

"Or Ric. He's right behind her."

"You guys go. I'll stay here," said Kol. "I know a little something about cleaning up crime scenes. I'll tee everything up for the cops. That Mars is the bad guy. I'll get everybody the help they need."

"Might want to erase Mars' Venezuelans. No need to create an international incident."

"Well, that goes without saying." A few minutes later, Emma and Damon were on the road.

"I can't figure out why the Venezuelans would target a junior senator from Connecticut," said Damon. "Even if their motive was straight revenge."

"Hold on," said Emma as her phone rang. It was Ric. "Where are you?"

"I was about to ask you the same question. Somewhere in back-ass country Greenwich. Probably gonna lose my signal."

"Damon, isn't St. Joe's in Stamford?"

"Yeah."

"Ric, tell me exactly where you are. Ric." The call dropped out. "Alicia's not headed for the hospital. What if the Venezuelans were targeting someone else?"

"At the dinner?"

"And the picnic. It was the same charity. They have to have the same guests. Judge Kathy Bridges sits on the board of Read & Unite. Rumor is she's about to rule against an oil company for price fixing."

"A Venezuelan oil company?"

"Venezuelan, baby. Petroleos Orinoco."

"And I bet the judge has a nice place in Greenwich." Quickly, Emma and Damon arrived at the residence to stop Alicia from turning Ric into Swiss cheese. Emma elbowed Alicia in the face and put her in the back seat of her car.

"You guys took your sweet time," said Ric.

"Saltzman, if you want to be conscious for the car ride home, shut up," Emma growled.

Later, Ric was watching a news broadcast when Kol came down the stairs.

"Hey, computer guy," said Kol.

"It's Alaric. Alaric Saltzman."

"Right, Alaric Saltzman. That's a mouthful. Emma says you know where the other Black Boxes are."

"I know where they were before Silas scattered the last three Sentinels to the wind. Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Rio."

"Is that where you're going next?" Emma asked. "Land of the Lambada, crystal waters, white sands. Sounds nice."

"First things first," said Kol as Damon joined Emma. "This is everything on the Regimen. I pulled it off Mars' computer. It includes a way to chemically detox. It's the answers I've been looking for."

"It could take a while for all of that to get out of your system. Maybe you could stay here."

"Absolutely not," said Ric. "I'm not a halfway house."

"It's probably better I get clean on the road. Longer I wait, colder those Sentinel trails get."

"Good luck," said Damon as he and Kol shook hands.

"Yeah."

"Kol," Emma began. "If you ever need anything…"

"I'll be around." He left. Emma then heard buzzing by Ric's computer.

"What is this?" she asked.

"That is Shadowbot. Runs a 24-hour news feed against every piece of data in the Black Box. Any story correlates with an old Syndicate mission, that bad boy pieces it together for us," said Ric.

"Us?" Damon asked. "That means you're not kicking us out now?"

"You were right about V9 being back," said Emma. "You saved all those people."

"We did. All of us and I know what it took." Emma kissed him.


	9. Get Out Alive

As Emma breathed in the incense and finished her yoga session, she overheard a disturbing report on the television. A man known only as "Ramon" had assassinated the Quebec Energy Minister.

"What happened? You got an alert?" Damon asked Ric.

"An alert?" Ric scoffed. "It's not a Twitter feed, Damon. It's Shadowbot. It scours the news, the blogosphere, the atmosphere. If something happens out there and it has a link to a file on the Black Box–"

"You get an alert," Damon interrupted, smirking. "I think I know why I flagged him. Ramon was captured by The Syndicate in Paris. Six years ago, I want to say. The agent lost him on the way to the airport."

"Not true. I caught him," said Emma, entering the living room. "Handed him to the grab team. They fucked it up. He slipped their net."

"Actually, it was more like catch and release," said Ric.

"What does that mean?" Damon asked.

"According to the Black Box, The Syndicate released him. Kept him on the payroll. He kills for them now."

"What?" Damon asked.

"Ramon? No way," said Emma.

"Way," Ric replied. "Read it and weep. These are all the sanctioned kills he's claimed responsibility for in the last six years."

"All this for The Syndicate?"

"It makes sense," said Damon. "The crazy anarchist takes the blame. No one asks questions. Not even cable news. It's brilliant."

"It's Silas," Emma growled. "Was his idea and he couldn't have done it without me."

"You caught Ramon."

"And I was supposed to kill him. I didn't. Does the box have his current location?"

"No. They move him to a different Syndicate facility every few months," said Ric. "She might know where he is though." He pointed to the news reporter on the television. "She says the videos just show up at the network. Not true. According to the Black Box, she gets them direct."

"Then we start with her," said Emma. "This time we catch him. No release."

Later, Damon walked up to Nisha Patel in Quebec after she finished a live report on Ramon.

"Nice work. As always, Ms. Patel. I'm Mike Royce. CNN," said Damon as he handed her his card.

"Senior evening news producer."

"I've been watching you. I mean your reports for the network."

"Right."

"Nice. Girls like awkward. Makes them feel special," said Emma through his com. Ric quirked an eyebrow.

"Anyway, you filed some great pieces on Ramon. Not to mention, you always seem to have the exclusives."

"I'm a lucky girl."

"Let's just say you're about to get luckier."

"Whoa," Emma warned.

"Do you want to get a coffee?" Damon asked.

"I know a great place nearby. Walk me to my car?"

"Absolutely."

"Just over here."

"Great. We're looking to do a news magazine. Five night strip, prime time, big stories. But we need a face that can make a cross-cultural impact."

"Cross-what? Where does he come up with this crap?" Emma asked Ric.

"I did my research. That's what I do best. As of now, you're a leading candidate."

"Candidate?"

"That's right."

"Well, I think I need to make you forget the others." She kissed him.

"Wow. The state of journalism in our culture," Ric tsked.

"Shut up. Okay, Mr. Bond, just complete the mission." He accidently moved her bag onto the ground.

"I'm sorry. Hold on. Do you want to call The Syndicate or should I?" Damon asked seeing a satellite phone. Nisha attacked him, kicking him in the face. Damon was seemingly knocked out. She then dialed a number on the sat phone.

"Transworld Constortium. How may I direct your call?"

"Extension 637-986."

"Go secure."

"I have contact with Damon. Send a support team now."

"Please verify your mission parameters."

"I haven't been compromised. I'm calling from a secure phone."

"Please verify your mission parameters."

"Operation Solid State. Protect and provide interface for the Syndicate asset, Ramon."

"Has Ramon been compromised?"

"Negative."

"What is his current location?"

"Syndicate Station. Monte de Concepcion, Colombia."

"Awesome. Thanks for that," said Ric as he came around the corner with Emma. Nisha was shocked and looked at Damon who had been awake the entire time. Before she could do anything, Emma injected her with vervain.

"Hey. You know when I kissed her, I was totally picturing you," said Damon. Emma just shook her head and walked away.

A few hours later, Emma and Damon were in South America.

"Buenos dias, muchachos," said Ric over their coms. "Welcome to Colombia. Land of lush forests, spectacular waterfalls, and wily little Syndicate assassins. Wish I was there to share the view with you, but mine is quite stellar, thanks to our friends in US Southern Command. I hacked their satellite. This place is a Syndicate facility so hacking security is not impossible, but it's tricky. It's safer if you go native and tap into the grid on the ground."

"Copy that," said Damon. "You know, you've been full-throttle on this thing ever since we left, Em."

"Yeah. So?"

"I want to know what happened that night after you caught him."

"I told you."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"He was real, Damon. And I believed him. I couldn't understand why a man like that would be working with The Syndicate."

"Well, if there's anything Silas knows how to do, it's how to buy a man's soul."

"I will get Ramon and when I do, we will both hog-tie him, leave him outside of Interpol in Bogota."

"Okay. Rest of the weekend we'll spend on a beach in Aruba. How does that sound?"

"Barbados."

"Done and done." He kissed her before going around to the back of the house. He blew the opening to an electrical shaft with a small charge and entered the narrow crawl space. "Ric, go to line two. I'm going to need your help."

"Look, I get it. You're worried about Emmy. You know, you start this whole crusade to right the wrongs, and then she takes the ball and she's running with it full-throttle. It's just how she rolls."

"No, I'm not talking about–"

"And I understand that we're all together in my place shacked up like the bizarro _Three's Company_, but you cannot keep putting me in the middle of your relationship stuff. You know, it's not fair to me. It's not my job."

"Would you just shut up!"

"You said you needed my help."

"With the grid."

"Oh. I knew that." Damon growled. He loved Ric like a brother, but sometimes he drove him crazy.

"I've got eyes on Ramon on the south balcony," said Emma. "Looks clear."

"Hold on," said Damon. "Let me confirm that." He finished tapping into the security hardline. "Okay. Looks clear to me."

"Better watch yourself, Emmy. Word is Ramonsito had some moves in Quebec. Rode that motorcycle like a Cirque du Soleil clown," said Ric as Emma saw Ramon in a wheelchair.

"That's the thing about the circus. Full of surprises. Damon, are you seeing this?"

"I am. He's in a wheelchair."

"Am I hearing this right?" Ric asked. "Please don't tell me he's petting a cat."

"All I know is he couldn't have done those jobs," said Emma.

"Syndicate does the kills. Ramon makes the videos, gets all the credit," Damon added.

"And this guy hates capitalism," Ric scoffed. "It's unbelievable. He's not an assassin. He's a franchise. 'Thank you for the kill order. Can you pull around to the first window, please?'"

"Damon, is this balcony clear? Can I scale this wall?"

"Hang on. Extracting Ramon could be trickier. Maybe we change the plan. Get some footage of him in that chair, send it out to the world, expose the lie."

"No. We want this done right. We take him in ourselves."

"All right. You're clear. Make it quick." Emma sped up the hill and jumped up onto the balcony. "Don't open the door yet. I'm going to disable the sensor. Okay." Emma opened the door and snuck into the house, overhearing a new video Ramon was making.

"Damon, there's going to be a hit in twenty minutes."

"Who's the target?"

"Some guy named Kochenko. I didn't get a location, but there's a Syndicate agent out there right now prepping for a kill." Emma drew her gun and pointed it at Ramon's head. "You had a better view in Paris."

"You are right. I prefer you in red."

"You can dream about it in prison, Ramon."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Emma. You didn't have the courtesy to introduce yourself six years ago. Silas told me all about you. He was devastated when his favorite girl went rogue. You got religion."

"You sold out."

"My fight hasn't changed. In the past two days, I've kept a Russian company from getting too much power in this hemisphere."

"Oh, you really are Silas' bitch, aren't you?"

"Thanks to you, I really didn't have a choice. Silas made it for me. He paralyzed me."

"If you're trying to get me to feel sorry for you, it's not gonna happen."

"You don't have the slightest idea what you took from me." He grabbed her gun and he forced her to discharge it, alerting his guards to the intruder. He punched her face and escaped down a ramp. Emma moved to a wall for cover and began shooting at the guards.

"Emma, tangos are closing in on your position."

"I got that!" Damon downed a guard. "Ramon's getting away."

"I'll keep 'em busy. On one, two, three!" Damon covered her as she jumped off the balcony. She fired as Ramon escaped in a truck. Emma stole a motorcycle and chased after him.

"They're sending in reinforcements. You better make a move, Damon," said Ric. Damon went down the stairs and into a safe room. "Emma has cleared the building and she is pursuing Ramon. Can you get out of there?"

"God damnit," he growled. "Ric, I locked myself in the safe room. Ric!"

Meanwhile, Emma had caught up with Ramon and blew his tires out.

"Damon, I've got him. I got Ramon."

"Then we're even," said Esther, having hacked into Emma's com. "Because I have Damon. I own the mountain, Emma. We've dropped a jamming field on the area. You can no longer communicate with Damon. He's trapped in the safe room and four Syndicate agents are waiting outside."

"Let me guess. You want to trade Ramon for Damon."

"I could demand you trade yourself. I know you'd do that for Damon, but things are different now. Real change has come to The Syndicate. Maybe it's because a woman's in charge."

"Oh yeah? Smells the same from here. Sounds the same too. You witches are all alike. All fucking ego. Don't have the balls do anything yourself. Have to enslave vampires to do your dirty work for you. If this jamming field of yours is so good, why the hell do I have to listen to this crap?"

"You're out of range for a reason. Don't you want to know why?"

"I know why. You need me to give you Ramon, so you can take credit for killing Kochenko. I also know he sent the video already. Of course, if the media were to see it before the hit, that'd mess up your plans, wouldn't it? I just sent Ric the file. One word from me, this goes wide. They pull Kochenko. You have to call off the hit."

"You'd risk Damon's life for that?"

"Damon will be fine until I get up there and I break him out."

"Maybe I wasn't clear before. When I said I had Damon, I meant it. Right now, a Predator drone is circling the compound. It's equipped with four AGM hellfire missiles. If you attempt to save Damon, if you do anything other than what I demand, I will vaporize the house. I understand how you think making war against us is a noble fight, but this particular battle is over now."

"How do we make the trade?"

"There's no trade. You're going to kill Ramon. Even after my mission succeeds, I can't have the world knowing he was employed by the government. Kill Ramon, send me the proof, I'll set Damon free."

"How do I know you won't kill him anyway?"

"You'll just have to trust me. You have a gun to Ramon's head, I have one to Damon's. All you have to do is pull the trigger. Everyone wins."

"Let me guess. The Syndicate wants you to do what you should have done six years ago," said Ramon. "It's amazing, isn't it? They always win." Emma called Ric.

"Any luck on the jamming field?"

"I can't crack it. I think The Syndicate hired somebody with half a brain."

"What about the Predator?"

"No dice. I tried hacking that too. You guys are too far away for me to send mine. I'm sorry."

"Forget it. I just need to talk to Damon. Right now he's trying to break out of that safe room. If I call him, he'll speed things up. He's the only leverage Esther has."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Safe room? Every Syndicate safe room has a black line, a dedicated landline running to the outside. I bet both my Xbox thumbs Ramon knows the number."

"Let me call you back. Ramon, your safe room has a black line. Give me the number."

"Why would I do that?"

"Why wouldn't you? Esther just negotiated you away. She wants you dead. The Syndicate's cutting their losses. They did this to you. They put you in this chair. It's time to pay them back."

"They didn't do this to me. You did. Six years ago, I deserved a warrior's death. Instead, you gave me pity."

"I saved your life."

"You sent me to hell. So please, no more favors. Just kill me. What? You don't do that anymore?"

"It won't stop Esther. If I do it, she'll kill him anyway."

"Well, that's not my problem, is it? There is no God watching if that's what you're worried about. Of course, if I'm wrong I promise to put in a good word for you. We killers should stick together."

"You don't want to die. You tried to run."

"That's when I had a chance. Now you've destroyed any arrangement I made with The Syndicate."

"And that's a bad thing? Ramon, give me the number and let me talk to Damon, and I promise you I'll set you free."

"So I can go on the run like you? Slightly insensitive, don't you think? You want to set me free? Set me free from this body!"

"This isn't about that chair. The man that I met in Paris six years ago would have never joined The Syndicate. You are better than that."

"And what about you, Emmalyne Salvatore? Silas sent me your file. He thought I could help catch you. Takes one to know one."

"You don't know me."

"Princess of a tribal community in Russia. Forced into power at too young of an age. Raiders killed both your parents. Only left you with your baby sister. Turned into a vampire after a plague hit your tribe, turning all its members. During the V-crisis, you were brought into The Syndicate and after you left you were strung out on Red Eye. How does an orphaned princess become so good at killing? Must be in the blood."

"I did what I had to do to survive."

"And now you're going to punish them for turning you into a monster? You already were one." Emma slapped him.

"You know nothing, human. Eternity is a long time and I have endured too much now to let a few lyudi _(humans)_ juiced up with a little supernatural ju-ju take everything else I have left. I didn't know what would happen if I let you live and I'm sorry for that, but…give me the number, Ramon. Let's end this."

"You still don't understand. You thought you could save me. All you did was create another monster. Silas said I was the greatest assassin he'd ever seen until he met you. There is only one way to save Damon. Do what you were supposed to do six years ago. Finish the mission. Finish it."

"No."

"Then you will lose him and they will win. Finish the mission. Do it. You can't beat them. You belong to them. Finish the mission." She threw her gun to him.

"Do it yourself."

"Time's up, Emma. We need proof of death," said Esther.

"It's coming," said Emma as she sent a message.

"Where are you going?" Ramon asked.

"To get Damon."

"They'll see you coming. You can't save him. You'll die."

"I'm dead without him." Emma left on the bike. As Emma drove up the mountain, Ramon called Damon.

"Emma?"

"No, but she's coming to save you. I, for one, don't think she can make it. But you can. There is a panel next to the phone. It opens an underground passage."

As Emma arrived at the house, a missile hit it.

"No. Damon," she gasped as a strangled sob left her throat. Her whole life, her world, gone in an instant. Emma turned as she heard a creak and saw Damon's form heading toward her. She tackled him, crying, and he took her in his arms.

"Ramon called. He said, 'you're welcome.'" Another sob left Emma's mouth as she held him tighter, her hands carding through his hair.

"Do we have anything? Someone give me a status report," said Esther.

"You missed," said Damon. "How's that?"

"Looks like you'll have to call of that Kochenko hit," said Emma before Damon kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too. For all eternity."


	10. Fallout

"Look at her," said Emma, seeing her old friend, Sage, on the news. "She looks so pale. Like a ghost."

"I'd say she looks pretty good for someone who's supposed to be dead," said Damon.

"Well, I checked the box. There's nothing on here about Sage being alive," said Ric. "She's logged as KIA on Operation Broken Eagle."

"Broken Eagle?"

"Yup. Your big Houdini escape moment."

"Damon, you told me that Sage died on a mission after that."

"I knew that if I told you, you would feel responsible and I didn't see the point. She was dead. Or so I was told. Apparently, she's been in a vampire prison in Turkey. Fucking Turks. They only keep those vampires around to experiment on them and discover how to engineer immortality without creating the need for human blood."

"So I am responsible. I got out on Broken Eagle and Sage got captured by Turkish humans with an immortality fetish. That's not a coincidence."

"You don't know that."

"What do you know?"

"Silas said Sage reported your death and tried to complete the mission without you. She was shot crossing the border into Turkey." Emma walked to the window and rested her hands on the sill.

"Hey," Damon said before he walked behind Emma and kissed the crown of her head.

"Sage will head toward the border. We need to help her."

"The woman in that video didn't look like she needed anyone's help."

"When I escaped, Damon, I believed that she would make it out and I was wrong."

"She won't be happy to see you."

"She's been in vampire prison for four years because I left her behind. Who'd be happy about that?"

A few hours later, Emma and Damon were sitting in a car outside a house in Ankara, Turkey. Emma watched as Sage entered an old Syndicate safe house. Sage opened a grate in the house and pulled out a cell phone as it rang.

"Sage? It's me. It's Emma. I'm here to help. The Syndicate should be on their way. You need to get out of there. Do you remember that park near the parliament building? Meet me there in three hours. I can get you out of the country. And I can explain…everything." Sage ended the call.

"How can you be sure she'll show?" Damon asked.

"If it were me, I'd want that explanation."

At night, Emma and Damon were observing from a safe distance at Genclik Park, waiting for Sage to show up.

"I think I see her. Behind the hedges across the path," said Damon. Emma walked toward the figure. However, it wasn't Sage. Sage grabbed her in a chokehold from behind.

"Hello, old friend," she said, holding a gun to Emma's head. "You cleared out the safe house. I want my stuff back."

"You don't have to do this."

"I want to do this. Take off the bag and hand it over."

"All right."

"Slowly." Emma pulled off her messenger bag and then hit Sage with it, throwing the gun out of her hand. The two women launched a series of punches and kicks before Damon tackled her. "Damon?"

"I'm not Syndicate."

"I told you I'm here to help."

"Yeah, last time I followed you across the border, I ended up in prison. What's your plan this time? To get me killed?"

"Somebody must have made a phone call. You've got half a dozen local police headed your way in a hurry," said Ric through the coms.

"We have to get you out of here. We need to split up," said Emma.

"That's a terrible idea," Damon spat. "We talked about this."

"We didn't expect a police chase either. We need a distraction. You're coming with me, Sage. We can finish this fight after we escape." Emma approached a police officer as if seeking help. Sage then punched him and the two drove off in his car. Damon fired his weapon from his car and distracted the other officers. Later, Emma and Sage arrived at the train station in Eskisehir, Turkey. They walked into a room that held shelves of luggage.

"There should be fewer police here than at the Ankara station," said Emma. "We'll be safe here until we have to board the train."

"Good." Sage then punched her. "I saw you die!"

"I needed you to. The Syndicate had to believe I was dead."

"You should have warned me."

"You would have reported me to The Syndicate. 'It's protocol, Emma.' You were always like that. Even before The Syndicate, even when we shaped vampire government. Always wanted to play by the rules. Never wanted to piss anybody off."

"I wasn't as special as you. Couldn't bat my eyelashes at the men and get out of trouble. Speaking of men, who'd you have to screw over to get Damon out?"

"I didn't screw you over. Not on purpose. The Syndicate did. You were captured. The Syndicate washed their hands of you. I find out you're alive, I drop everything to come here. Four years in vampire prison…they did nothing." Emma dropped a bag on the floor. "I hid this here. You'll need a disguise to get past the police."

"I'm out of options so I'll go along with your plan, but don't expect a thank you."

"I'm not here for your thanks. You deserve a second chance. I want to give it to you if you'll let me."

In Ankara, Damon spoke with Ric over his com.

"Emma said Sage agreed to the plan, but I don't trust her," said Damon.

"Why does she? You know, I never understood that relationship. It's like oil and…a Martian."

"Emma turned Sage in the Renaissance. They formed vampire government. When Sage arrived at The Syndicate, Emma and I had managed to convince Silas that we hated each other. Sage was very quiet, stuck to herself. Her husband had been killed publicly in order to convince the masses that vampires were not a threat. Emma knew what it felt like to be alone. The two have always gravitated towards each other."

"I remember Sage as pretty intense. Not the kind of person you want to cross."

"That's my worry. Emma's alone with Sage and I can't protect her. Keep an eye on 'em for me."

"I've got nine on them, right now," said Ric as he watched the two women pass through security. On the train, Sage was looking out the window.

"We have a few hours if you want to get some rest," said Emma.

"I don't think I can. What happens when we get to Istanbul?"

"We meet up with Damon, get you across the border. Then you're free. You can go wherever you want."

"I don't know where to go. I hadn't thought that far ahead."

"How'd you find a way out?"

"They were taking me back to the cell when a guard got hurt. The others left me to go help him. They forgot they hadn't locked my door yet. So I ran."

"You won't have to run much longer."

"What about you? Why aren't you hiding out somewhere on a beach with Damon?"

"I do want that. Except the hiding part, of course. Sage, when we make it to that beach, I want to be free of The Syndicate and everything we've done. That's what we're working on. Trying to make things right."

"What we've done, Emma. That's not something you can fix." A few minutes later, Ric called Emma.

"Yeah?"

"You have to get off the train now!"

"Kind of hard, Ric. It's moving."

"I've got Shane and Caroline entering the train station just before you pulled out and I think they're onboard."

"Shit." The two girls ran out of their cabin into another car. "We have to stop this train."

"Or we fight. I think we can pick off the girl pretty easy."

"We can't kill her."

"Why not? She's a Syndicate agent."

"You don't know her, Sage. I do."

"Okay, fine, fine. Maybe we can disable her. We have tactical advantage back there. There's only one way in."

"There's only one way out. Those people would be defenseless."

"Unless we get them out of here before the fighting starts." Quickly, they vacated people out of the dining car. The two women fought Shane and Caroline before locking the door and jumping off the train into the forest.

"Hey. We're off the train. Don't ask," said Emma when she called Damon after arriving at a small restaurant off the beaten path. "We need a new plan."

"Uh, can you make it to the docks in Istanbul? Ric will find us a freighter or something."

"Let me see what I can do. I'll call you when I'm on my way."

"I'm gonna use the ladies' room while you car shop," said Sage.

"Be quick." A few minutes later, Sage walked out of the restaurant to see Emma in a car. Surreptitiously, Sage poked a hole in the tire before entering the vehicle.

"I keep wondering why you wanted to protect that Syndicate agent," said Sage when they were on the road.

"Caroline isn't like us. The way she got into The Syndicate. It's different. It's complicated."

"Then explain it."

"I had two moles inside The Syndicate. Damon and Caroline."

"That's how you took down Silas. What happened?"

"I was trying to protect her. There were things that I…didn't think she could handle so I kept them from her. When she found out, she realized she couldn't trust me."

"Guess no one warned Caroline about Saint Emma."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's how you operate. You're the only one who can handle the truth. You're the only one who knows the right thing to do. You know Esther had a theory about that."

"I don't care."

"Liar. She said you need people but you don't trust them. You withhold information to keep them dependent on you but make their choices for them so they can't disappoint you. So I get why Caroline doesn't trust you but why stay at the place she tried to destroy?"

"You know Esther. She's got her confused. She's made her believe that she needs The Syndicate. I should've never let that place get its hooks into her. We'll pull in here. Meet on the other side of the road." Emma's tire then blew. "Whoa. It's the tire." Emma pulled over. "Let me see if there's a spare. Great. No spare."

"I'm never getting out of this country."

"Damon will come get us."

"We're gonna need to take cover before he gets here. I'm gonna take a look."

"Find a spot with a view of the road. We don't need any more surprises." Sage ran toward the road as Emma called Damon.

"Are you at the docks?" he answered.

"No, I'm on the side of the road with a flat and no spare."

"I knew we shouldn't have split up. Do you know of a safe place where you can wait for me?"

"Sage's out looking, but there's nowhere to hide the car." Emma then noticed the hole in the tire. "I'm gonna have to call you back." She ended the call and looked inside the car. She saw a phone underneath the seat and called the last dialed number.

"Sage, we have your location. I've sent a team to capture the girl," said Mikael, the head of Russia's sister program to The Syndicate, The Collective. Emma grabbed her gun.

"I found a spot," said Sage. "It's not too far uphill. I think there's a great, big tree…" Emma pulled her gun on her.

"So how long you been working for The Collective? You work for Mikael?" Emma threw Sage's phone on the ground and shot it.

"I'm not working for anyone. I sat in a cell, waiting to die. Mikael offered me a way out."

"So Mikael broke you out to kill me. What are you waiting for?"

"Killing you wasn't my mission. As much as Mikael wants you dead, he wants Silas' Black Box more. All I had to do was get it."

"You lost your shot at it. Pretty stupid keeping that phone on you too."

"When I told Mikael about Caroline, my orders changed. I went from Trojan Horse to bait and that phone is how The Collective knows we're here."

"Get in the trunk." Sage moved inside it and Emma closed the lid. She then called Damon. "Damon, Sage works for The Collective. The flat tire…it's a trap for Caroline."

"Ric's picked up Russian transmitters at your location. The Collective is already there." Emma ran into the forest. As Russian agents hunted Shane and Caroline, Emma killed one of the agents. Unfortunately, Sage got to Caroline before Emma could.

"Come out, Emma! Or I shoot your old partner in the head! Your choice."

"You won't shoot her. Mikael's orders are to take her back to The Collective."

"Maybe we should just shoot you." Damon fired on a Russian agent. Using the distraction, Caroline threw the gun out of Sage's hand. Damon and Emma took out the remaining agents and just as Sage was about to shoot Caroline, Emma shot her straight in the heart.

"You okay?" Damon asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll do a sweep."

"The Collective set a trap for me?" Caroline asked.

"Sage saw you. She told Mikael. He sent her to grab you. I'm not sure why."

"If they know who I am…"

"We can help you. Come with us. Please."

"If I say no, are you going to shoot me again?"

"I'm sorry. I've made a lot of mistakes, starting with not telling you the truth. We were partners. I should've treated you like one."

"I have to go back to The Syndicate. If I'm a Collective target, it will be the safest place for me. They can protect me."

"We can protect you."

"I have to kill Kaminski and not just for revenge now. If he realizes that I am alive, he will want to fix that mistake. The Syndicate has the resources that I need and they won't let anything happen to me. You know that."

"I know _you_, Caroline. You're a good person. I know you'll make the right choice."

"Backup's coming. You guys should go," said Caroline as Damon walked back toward them.

"We can't go back up to the road, but I know another way," said Damon. The two left.

That night, Emma and Damon were resting in their bedroom, Damon giving Emma a neck massage.

"There's no way you could have known. As cons go, it was a pretty good one," said Damon. "Sage really sold it. Right down to the dead prison guards."

"Damon. I really wanted to help her even after I found out the truth. I would've freed her from everyone, including Mikael."

"That's who you are. When you find someone in trouble, you want to help. That's what I love about you."

"And Caroline almost got captured."

"Well, she wasn't."

"Because of you. We wouldn't have gotten out of there if it wasn't for you."

"Thanks. That's my job. Look, something good came from this. You wanted to help someone you cared about, and you did. Caroline is safe."

"Back at The Syndicate."

"Well, she let us escape. That's a good sign. I think she'll come around." Emma leaned back against his chest and Damon rubbed his thumb across her left hand. "Do you miss it?"

Emma knew what he was talking about. Her wedding ring. After The Syndicate had captured them, they had confiscated their wedding rings. They had been antiques passed down through the Russian royal bloodlines of antiquity. Damon and Emma had no clue what The Syndicate had done with them after they were taken.

"They're just objects, Damon. I have you. And that's all that matters." He smiled and kissed her tenderly.


	11. Gentleman

"What is that noise?" Damon groaned in bed. Emma quickly rose.

"Oh my God." Emma rushed to a computer. "It's Matt." She listened in to a call Matt was making to his mother. "What the hell is he doing?"

"Sounds like he's talking to his mom."

"No, he's talking to me. He wants to meet."

"How do you figure?"

"When Matt was at the CIA, we brainstormed a few ideas on how to communicate. One of the ideas was to tap his house phone, use code words."

"And that code is?"

"His sister. Vicki. She OD'ed on pain pills."

Later, Emma sent a man she paid off into the prison Matt was at.

"Who are you?" Matt asked.

"Donnie, don't tell me you already forgot about your old racquetball buddy. It's me, Bob." He showed Matt his earpiece.

"Emma."

"What are you doing, Matt? I had a plan to get you out. Making contact before then is dangerous. The Syndicate will be watching you."

"I know. But this can't wait. I think I found out how Oversight makes their money. Someone very smart, high enough up to give The Syndicate orders, is using them to engineer specific events, events that seem unrelated on the surface but when you add them up, they can affect the stock market in ways that can't be easily proven. Check out a riot in China six months ago, a factory fire in Ireland four months back, and a Brightling chemist heart attack this morning. Follow the shell companies who benefited from the Brightling stock drop, and they'll lead you straight to Oversight."

Suddenly, Shane entered the room and picked up Emma's proxy, taking his ear bud out.

"Nice try," he said through the piece. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. She paid me two grand to come in here to talk to him."

"What did he tell her?"

"I couldn't follow. Something about the Chinese wanting to take Oversight of a factory."

"If Matt is right, if we cripple Oversight's funding, we could end this sooner than we know," said Emma.

"If he's right. Either way, he put himself in The Syndicate's crosshairs." When Emma and Damon returned to their base of operations, they opened up the Black Box.

"Operation Grey Rain," said Emma. "The Syndicate sparked a riot in Chiayi over a tainted water supply. Big setback for Brightling Pharmaceutical. Chiayi is where they purify Heparin. It's a blood thinner."

"What about the factory fire in Ireland?"

"Operation Silent Cross. Officials story was some guy left his station unmanned. Anyway, dozens of companies were affected by Sorsteel Supply Chain. I'm give you one guess who their biggest client was."

"Brightling Pharmaceutical."

"If you could secretly control when a company failed…"

"Your earnings would skyrocket. They're betting on the house to lose. What's the shell company?"

"Transworld Consortium."

"Hmm. It's headquartered in Dover, Delaware, 336 Boyer Street, Suite 400."

"According to the Box, each mission was authorized by the same member of Oversight. Code Name: Midas. How much do you want to bet that's their money man? You scratch Transworld, maybe he'll itch."

A few hours later, the two vampires arrived in the Dover suburbs.

"This is Transworld Consortium?" Emma asked, getting out of the car.

"It's the right address."

"Evil corporations aren't what they used to be." Emma rang the doorbell and a woman answered the door while Damon hid his gun behind his back.

"Can I help you?" asked the woman.

"Sorry to bother you. I think we have the wrong address. Is this Transworld Consortium?" Emma asked.

"That name does sound familiar. Yes, I think they're in here. Come on in." Damon hid his gun underneath his shirt and they entered the house. "I'm surprised you rang the doorbell. Nobody does that anymore." Damon and Emma were stunned when they saw a room full of P.O. boxes.

"What exactly is this place?" Damon asked.

"This is Dover Corporate Services. I harbor P.O. boxes for companies who want to remain anonymous."

"Is it legal to operate from your home?"

"In the great state of Delaware, you betcha. Got my mortgage paid off, got me the satellite TV. Excuse me."

"Suite 400." Emma took Damon's knife and unlocked the box. There were two letters. Emma took them and then the owner of the house came in with a shotgun. Emma ducked on the floor and struggled with the woman for the gun. Emma twisted the gun around so the barrel faced the owner. She cocked it and fired. "I'm thinking this is the right place."

"You betcha." The two then left.

A few hours later, Damon received an e-mail from Ric.

"Ric crunched the numbers on those spreadsheets from Transworld. Half the profit was taken by a single hedge fund, but the rest of it just disappears."

"Who runs the fund?" Emma asked.

"Jonathan Gaines, former chairman of the SEC turned Wall Street wolf."

"Midas. Oversight's piggy bank. We snag him, we hit them where it hurts." An alert then beeped on Emma's phone.

"What is it?"

"Something's coming over the newswire about Matt. Attacks prison guard?"

"The Syndicate tried to kill him, but he was ready for them. What are you doing?"

"Esther won't fail twice. We have to get him out of there."

"He'll get moved to the infirmary. The original plan won't work."

"Then we change the plan." She cocked her gun.

The following day, Emma, masquerading as a US marshal, entered Matt's prison with Damon, her prisoner.

"Coming from Sussex?" a guard asked.

"Yeah. I don't know why he's getting the upgrade, but he is," said Emma.

"What happened to his eye?"

"He ran into a door." Emma was pretty impressed with her make-up job. He looked pretty beaten up.

"I said she looked pretty. Bitch hit me in the face," Damon smirked.

"Mind if I take him down to the infirmary for processing, clean him up a little?" Emma asked.

"Go ahead."

"I'll radio when it's clear," said Damon as she handed him the keys to his handcuffs. Emma walked down a hallway and using her phone hacked into a room. "We're clear. I'm on my way." However, Emma was too late. Shane had already killed Matt. Emma quickly got out of the prison with Damon who'd been shot. The vervain from the bullet Shane had shot him with was slowing his healing.

"Drink this," Emma said once they arrived at their base, giving him a cup of tea.

"Emma."

"Drink. It's good for recovery."

"The Syndicate knows we've ID'd Gaines. They'll be waiting for us."

"Two escort teams at least."

"And Shane."

"Let's hope so," Emma said as she cocked her gun.

"We can nail Gaines on our own schedule."

"Oversight will move him tonight if they haven't already. He'll hop from one island to another for the next twenty years. We won't find him. He will answer to me tonight!"

"Okay. I'm going with you."

"Damon, you're not going."

"What are you going to do? Handcuff me to a chair?"

"No," said Emma. Damon tried to get up, but was woozy. Emma had drugged the tea.

"Oh, damn you. What did you do?"

"I have to do this, okay? This is my fight. I can't afford to lose anyone. I love you too much." Damon fell unconscious onto the bed. She kissed his cheek and left.

That night, Emma was scaling a wall in Manhattan. When she reached the level of Gaines' penthouse, she sprayed a dissolving agent on a window covered up by a curtain. She entered the apartment and took out Gaines' guard.

"Time to pay the piper, Gaines. Matt Donovan says hi," said Emma, pointing her gun at him.

"Wait."

"Before he died, he was trying to name members of Oversight. Guess what you're going to do?"

"I give you those names, I'm a dead man."

"Works for me."

"I can't."

"You will. Start talking." An agent who worked for Oversight, Tyler Lockwood, then entered the room. Emma grabbed Gaines in a chokehold.

"Let him go," Tyler ordered.

"Get back."

"Shoot her, damn it! Shoot her!" Gaines yelled.

"Emma, I know Matt Donovan is innocent," said Tyler. "Just let him answer in a court of law."

"Drop your guns, I will."

"You want names?" Gaines asked.

"Senator Carol Lockwood." Tyler fired on Gaines, killing him. Emma took cover behind a couch as Syndicate agents fired. Suddenly, bullets flew through the window, hitting agents. Damon was shooting from a sniper rifle across the rooftop of another building. Emma used the distraction to jump out the window and sail down the wall safely.

When Emma returned back to their base with Damon, her husband was pissed.

"What the hell were you thinking drugging me like that!"

"I was trying to protect you."

"You almost got yourself killed."

"Look, avenging Matt was my mission."

"No, there's no 'my' anymore! There's only 'ours' as in we share the losses, we share the risks, and most of all we share the decisions!"

"I was thinking about you."

"No, you made the decision for me!" he roared, verging on tears. "Do you ever stop to think how I'd feel if I lost you? You have no idea how much you mean to me. No idea. If you ever pull a stunt like that again, we're done. I'm going out. I need some time alone. Don't call me. I'll call you."


	12. I Am Loco

"You know, it's amazing how much you've bought with my money," said Ric, walking into the living room.

"Not really. I am a girl. We like stuff. Just tell me where the Senator is. I don't really trust this ingestible tracker of yours."

"The microdot is activated by stomach acid. Give it time. And give me props. It wasn't easy getting that thing into the senator's double half-caf. I had to work my mojo."

"Let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"I want to be in motion when the Senator calls the meeting."

"Wait, so the last four members of the secret cabal get together and we're in motion?"

"I have a plan."

"Has it occurred to you that The Syndicate knows you're coming? I mean, you killed Oversight's banker in his own penthouse."

"I wasn't the one who did the actual shooting."

"We haven't done our homework. We should have spent a week at least doing recon on the Senator. Now you want to take out the entire imperial senate?"

"I'm not taking anyone out. We're doing surveillance. It's okay to be scared, nerd."

"You know, maybe fear isn't such a bad thing. It causes you to stop, look around, become situationally aware."

"You're going to lecture me about situational awareness?"

"Somebody has to. Ever since Damon left, you've been on some kind of a bender. What did you two get in a fight about?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Emma, you're pulling slugs out of your Kevlar and acting like it doesn't hurt."

"I've had worse."

"I'm not talking about physical pain. Emmy, you're allowed to miss him, but he's coming back. You guys are meant to be. You're like Bonnie and Clyde…without the last scene."

"Damon doesn't trust me anymore. I betrayed his trust and that's something you can't easily win back with a Salvatore. Especially when he can't stand being in the same room with you." The computer then beeped. "She's on the move. Shall we?"

A few minutes later, Emma and Ric passed by a street crawling with cops.

"They changed the venue," said Emma, seeing Tyler.

"And upped security. Why?"

"Boy scout. Always prepared."

"Who?"

"Met him at Gaines' penthouse. He changed my plans then too. I had Gaines talking, naming members of Oversight."

"And?"

"Boy Scout started blasting."

"Never as easy as it should be."

"Go." A few minutes later, Emma was walking around the building, on the phone with Ric.

"Got to hand it to the Boy Scout. They're having a foreign correspondents' luncheon up top. Place is full of bigwigs. Any one of them could be Oversight," said Ric.

"Rear entrance is just as secure. There's no way for me to get a gun in there."

"This just keeps getting better and better."

"You said up top. What's down below?"

"Oh, just an old Cold War bunker with three feet of concrete all around it. At least that's according to the Historical Society. Nice little place for the evil council of evil to hang out." Emma ended the call after seeing an event planner by a floral truck. After knocking the girl out and grabbing a bouquet, Emma proceeded through security. "The best way into that bunker unnoticed is through an old ventilation shaft. Cross the dining room to a staircase that's in the rear of the kitchen. You'll find the ventilation shaft in the main boiler room. It connects up to the hotel's air conditioning system." Emma jumped down into the shaft and took pictures of the members of Oversight walking down the hallway to their meeting room. Emma then noticed Tyler moving all the members.

"Ric, they're onto us. Meet me at the ex-fil point."

"On my way." Emma ran into the kitchen when Tyler saw her and went after her. She ran out of the hotel, Tyler hot on her trail. She saw two cops on their lunch break and hit them with a stray basketball. The cops saw Tyler with a gun and drew their weapons on him.

"Gun! Drop it!" Emma escaped, but Ric was nowhere to be seen.

"Ric, I'm at the ex-fil point. Ric! Ric!" Ric wasn't coming. He'd been captured.

Meanwhile across the country in London, Damon walked inside a shady looking pawn shop and recognized an all too familiar set of rings. His and Emma's wedding rings. Damon had prolonged his angry outburst with Emma in order to gain some time to himself so he could find the rings. Yes, he'd been pissed at Emma for drugging him, but eternity was a long time to hold a grudge. Before he could call over the storeowner, he received a call.

"What's wrong?"

"Damon, man down."

"What?"

"I lost Ric."

"Uh, how?" Damon asked, walking out of the store.

"We were running recon on Oversight. I had them. I had them all. The Syndicate found out. They took him."

"When?"

"It doesn't matter! Are you listening to me? They took Ric."

"Okay, I'll get on the first flight."

"There's no time for that. We have to do something now!"

"What are you gonna do? Launch a frontal assault on The Syndicate?" Emma kicked over a chair.

"WHY AREN'T YOU HERE!"

"Emma, stop. Focus. Prioritize. Now, when was he taken?"

"One hour, 14 minutes ago."

"The good news is he's still alive. But the bad news is that Esther is probably interrogating him right now."

"Damon, we have to do something to save him. Damon."

"There is. But you won't like it."

"What is it?"

"A trade. Or more like a sacrifice." Catching his drift, Emma called The Syndicate and reached Jenna.

"Hello?"

"Put Esther on."

"Who is this?"

"Do it now. I have something she wants."

"What do you want, Emma?" Esther asked.

"It's simple. I give you the Box, you give me Ric."

"You won't do it. It means too much to you, to your crusade."

"This may surprise you, Esther, but Ric means more. He is a friend. A friend is someone who knows you and still likes you in case that's something you can't fathom."

"I'm trying to fathom a lot of things today. How do I know you haven't copied the box?"

"If you attempt duplication, the data eats itself. It's one of Silas' little gems. You know Oversight wants this box and you know I'm willing to give it to you. Now, do you need to put me on hold while you talk to your boss?"

After Esther agreed, Emma called Damon.

"She agreed. That's good," said Damon as he looked at the rings he just bought. His and Emma's rings. It took a lot of work, but he finally tracked them down. They were a little worse for wear, but that could easily be fixed. "Probably won't stop her from trying to kill you both. You need a real threat for leverage. Preferably an explosive."

"I have an idea for that. What about the trade site?"

"You need to control it. Ingress, egress, everything. And the best way to do that is pre-selected mode of transportation. I got some ideas for that too. The only wild card is who do they send?"

"There was a guy at the Oversight meeting. I tangled with him in Gaines' apartment. He shot Gaines when he started naming members of Oversight."

"The soldier."

"The what?"

"He didn't move like a Syndicate agent. Probably Special Forces."

"Wait a minute. Senator Lockwood has a son. He serves in the armed forces."

"If he's Special Forces, they're not gonna advertise it."

"Hang on. Lieutenant Commander Tyler Lockwood, United States Navy. Designation Devgru."

"Special Warfare Development Group. He's Seal Team Six."

"And the senator's his mother. Tyler didn't shoot Gaines because he was naming members of Oversight. He shot him because he was naming her."

"And there's no telling what someone will do when they're pushed to the edge."

A few minutes later, Emma called The Syndicate.

"It's gonna be me and the Boy Scout."

"Excuse me?" Esther replied.

"The Boy Scout. We had a brisk little run in the park today. You know who you are, Boy Scout."

"I'm listening," said Tyler.

"Bring Ric to the pedestrian walkway at 28th and 3rd in Manhattan. Alone. If I smell even a whiff of The Syndicate, I upload the contents of the box live, starting with operations sanctioned by Senator Carol Lockwood."

"He'll be there in one hour," said Esther.

An hour later, Tyler arrived at the walkway with Ric. A taxi pulled up.

"Lieutenant Commander Tyler Lockwood?" the driver asked.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am your ride." The two got in the vehicle.

"Will, are you there?" Emma asked through the radio.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are you being followed?"

"No, ma'am."

"Good."

"What's the point? She has to know they're tracking my com," said Tyler.

"If she's smart which she is," said Ric, "…she hacked the taxi's transponder. Esther can't track us because she probably never got the cab's transponder number, and there's at least dozens of cabs on the road."

"Will, turn into the parking garage on your left, go up to the sixth floor," said Emma. Within a matter of minutes, the cab arrived at its destination where Emma was waiting, holding a dead man's switch. As Ric and Tyler left the cab, Tyler pulled out his gun.

"I'm not gonna wave," said Ric, severely beaten up.

"I jacked 17 wireless connections, sailor. I let this go, the world's in for a nightmare."

"Let's have it."

"Him first." Tyler released Ric and he walked over to Emma. "Ric, wand yourself. Make sure there's no trackers on you or in you." Ric took a metal detector sitting on a grate.

"I'm sure they've picked up my signal by now."

"Let 'em come. The more, the merrier."

"I'm clean," said Ric.

"Go upstairs."

"What?"

"Go now." Ric ran up to the roof.

"Give me the box," said Tyler.

"Careful with this. It's a loaded weapon." She laid the box on the ground. Tyler shot it to pieces and Emma threw her trigger in his face and disarmed his weapon. "You're a decorated soldier. Why are you doing this?"

"You're trying to kill my mother."

"Your mother is a bitch. I am not the threat, Tyler. Open your eyes." They both heard tires squealing.

"It's over now."

"You're a good boy scout. You wear your Kevlar, right?" Emma shot him and ran to the roof. He chased after her, but she was already flying away in a helicopter.

A few days later, Ric was making himself a drink.

"Since you refuse to take my blood, don't forget to take your anti-inflammatories, okay?" Emma asked. "And don't miss a doctor's appointment."

"Yes, Mom," Ric mocked.

"Please repeat your command," said Ric's computer.

"Go to hell," Ric chuckled. "Why does this voice-activated software sound like Caroline?"

"It's the shell program we used to communicate with. You know, the one that took you three years and six months to find."

"You give new meaning to the phrase 'insult to injury,'" said Ric, motioning to his broken hand.

"Ric, you were right. I flew too close to the sun on this one. I never thought it would be you who got burned."

"I'm a big boy. I knew what I was getting into. Still do."

"You okay?" Emma asked as she noticed his hand was shaking. Emma took his hand in hers.

"I almost gave you up in there."

"But you didn't."

"Thanks for coming back for me."

"You are so worth it. You rule, nerd." They laughed. She kissed his forehead.

"Packing up? Where are you going, anyway?"

"Find Kol. He's on the trail of another Black Box. Anti-inflammatories." Ric waved as Emma left.


	13. The Hand That Feeds

Kol walked into his apartment in France when Emma attacked him from behind.

"Emma, what are you doing here?" Kol asked when he released her from his chokehold.

"The Collective."

"Now hold on."

"Mikael!"

"It's not what you think."

"Really!" Emma screeched. "Cause what I think is that you are working with a Russian black-ops group whose top priority is killing me!"

"I know this looks bad, but Mikael wants Silas dead just as much as we do. I'm not working with The Collective, Emma. I'm using them."

"Oh, where have I heard that before?" Emma groaned.

"Emma, I would never let them hurt you. I made it very clear if they even breathe in your direction, I'm ripping their heads off, starting with Mikael. Now really. What are you doing here?"

"I need your help," she sighed.

"You do?"

"To get a Black Box. I lost mine."

"Lost it? How?"

"Esther."

"Listen, I know you're pissed. I know The Collective's supposed to be the enemy, but that's when we were with The Syndicate. The sides aren't the same anymore."

"The Collective is dangerous."

"That could be good for us. Emma, we don't have a lot of friends left."

"You think you're the first person who's tried to take advantage of them? Silas tried it. Even he got burned."

"What do you mean Silas got burned? What are you talking about?"

"Operation Pale Fire. The Syndicate collaborated with Sergei Kaminski to kill Nikolai Fedorov and his family."

"Pale Fire?"

"It was the first time I ever defied my orders. I saved the daughter, Karolina."

"Karo—wait, Caroline? Your partner? That's why she's working with you to take down The Syndicate."

"Her focus has shifted. She's headed somewhere dark and I'm as much to blame for that as anyone."

"Why doesn't she trust you anymore?" Emma shook her head. "All right. You take the bed. I'll take the couch. If we're gonna take down The Collective, we're gonna need our rest. Or at least I will. Ever since I got off the Regimen, I sleep all the time." Emma smiled. "It kind of sucks."

"Just to be clear, The Collective is not the priority anymore. Black Box is. You said you got near a Sentinel. What happened to him?"

"I don't know. But whatever he's up to can't be good."

The following morning, Emma woke up to Kol making breakfast.

"Tofu scramble with a side of blood. Tarragon's the key, a little bit of saffron."

"Wow," said Emma, taking a bite. "Kol, seriously. This is great."

"Thanks. What does Damon make for you?"

"It's been a long time since he's made breakfast for me."

"Speaking of which, where is your scruffier half?"

"We got in a fight. Doesn't want to talk to me."

"You want to call him?"

"I want you to tell me about this Sentinel."

"His name is Patrick Miller. According to the records at the bank where he stashed his box. I used Collective computers to scan accounts using my search parameters. I got to tell you those Collective techs…they could give your little guy a run for his money. Anyways, we got a hit. By the time I got there, he had closed his accounts. Raided his farmhouse, cleared out."

"He leave anything behind?"

"Nothing. Place was clean."

"Well, we'll double-check. You don't know that. What?"

"Nothing. I just forgot how bossy you can be. And I kind of missed it."

"Shut up," Emma chuckled.

"Something still bugs me. Sentinels never leave their posts, not ever, unless they get a direct order from Silas."

"Well, Silas is locked up in The Syndicate. He can't be doing that, not in the position he's in now."

A few minutes later, Emma and Kol arrived at the Sentinel's farmhouse.

"I told you I went through everything."

"Kol, you said that Silas used to send you your supply of the Regimen, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then where's the Sentinel getting his drugs from? Can't be Silas."

"It's not like ordering cough syrup. You can't just pick up Regimen at the local drugstore."

"You need a specialist. A doctor or a chemist."

"The notes I got from Dr. Mars' lab list the chemicals needed to make it."

"That's good. It gives us a shot at tracking anyone who's ordered shipments of them."

"It's a complicated trace. He'd have to cross-reference a database of supply outlets with a list of scientists – legit, black market."

"Good thing you know someone who can do that. Like you said, they could give Ric a run for his money, right?"

"Are you talking about The Collective?"

"That's right."

"Just so I'm clear, when I decide to use Collective resources, I'm stupid. But when you decide to do the same thing, it's a brilliant plan!" Kol yelled as they walked outside the house.

"You're the one who made the deal with the devil. I'm just trying to get us the biggest bang for our buck."

"But you said it yourself. Mikael is dangerous. What if he decides to use this info? What if he decides to cut me out of the process?"

"Which is why you're not gonna let that happen and you're gonna go in person."

"What about Ric, huh? Ric could run this."

"Possibly but not as quickly. This is…this data is The Collective's backyard. It'll be at their fingertips and Ric needs some time to himself to recover."

"Recover? From what? Gamer's thumb?"

"Esther captured him, tortured him. She crushed his hand."

"You okay?"

"Fine."

"No, really. Are you okay?"

"I don't know," said Emma, verging on tears. "Every time I feel like I've got a handle on one part of my life, another part of it slips away. I get Damon out of the Syndicate and I lose Caroline. We get the Black Box and I lose Damon because of a stupid decision I made. It's like rounding up marbles on a glass table. And if I lose focus for even one second, someone gets hurt. Someone I love. Ric. Matt. Who am I gonna lose next? You? I'm so tired. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."

"What do you want?"

"I want to stop."

"I don't think you can. You _have_ to help people. You have to stand up for those people who can't fight for themselves because, Emma, it's the right thing to do."

"I don't know if Damon's coming back. I think…I don't know if Damon's coming back."

"You know, if he can't see what he left behind, well maybe you shouldn't be together."

A few hours later, Kol got the info he needed from The Collective.

"The chemist is a Werner Christinger from the Basel Institute of Technology. But there's a Collective team on its way."

"On its way from where?" Emma asked over the phone.

"Germany, so it's close. I'd never make it back on time. You've got to get there first."

"I'm on it." Kol ended the call and dialed another number.

"Hey, it's me. You should know Emma's closing in on the Black Box and she's making the approach solo." Suddenly, Kol was attacked by two Collective agents.

That evening, Emma arrived at the chemist's lab and just as the Sentinel arrived, pointed her gun at the two men.

"Hands. Hands! Take the Black Box out. Slowly put it on the table." The Sentinel removed the Black Box. "Slowly. Step away. Doctor, grab the box. Bring it to me." As the doctor moved, the Sentinel threw a knife in him. Emma fired at him. Unable to recover the box, Emma retreated, but was accosted by Collective agents.

"It's Collective!" Emma yelled. The Sentinel nodded and they both attacked the Russians. While the Sentinel attacked the troops, Emma took advantage of the situation to grab the Black Box and escape, but the police had arrived. They took both her and the Sentinel into custody.

"How did you find me?" the Sentinel asked as they were being transported. "Did you intercept a call? A communication tap? Right. You ran a good stack. Hard cover was solid, but you were using a modified weaver when you should have been—"

"What are you doing?"

"Tactical breakdown back at the lab."

"We're not friends or partners."

"No, but we're professionals."

"We're nothing!"

"You're Syndicate."

"_Was_ Syndicate."

"Right. You're the rogue." Emma rolled her eyes. "Why'd you leave?"

"Because I was done being a bunch of fucking witches' guinea pig. You chose the wrong person to back. Silas is rotting in a hole in Jersey. He's finished. What?"

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" Patrick flipped up and removed a knife from the sole of his boot. He cut through his restraints. "Who's on the wrong side now?"

When he cut through his restraints, Emma kicked him. Before he could attack again, the van veered onto the side of the road. The Collective had arrived. As the Russian agents approached to kill Emma, a car sped down the road and shot two of the agents. Damon exited the car as he fired his weapon. He cut Kol out of his restraints in another car.

"There's three more," Kol warned. The two vampires took cover behind a car as the Russians fired. "Thanks for coming."

"Thanks for calling. My wife. She never tells me anything. Always having to save her ass." The two vampires then fired on the Russians just as Emma escaped her bonds.

"Guys, Sentinel's gone. And so is the box."

Later, Emma and Damon were talking in Kol's kitchen.

"How's Ric?" Damon asked.

"He's better. He needs some time."

"Well, he's tough. He'll be annoying the hell out of you in no time. And you? How are you?"

"I'm glad to see you." He hugged her.

"We have to go. Sentinel's on the move," said Kol.

"He doesn't have the box and Mikael's probably destroyed it by now."

"No, Mikael told me he wants to keep it. They must think they can use it for something. We got a bigger problem. The police confiscated this laptop from the Sentinel. I took it when we left the scene. The Sentinels are on secondary protocol."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"Primary protocol is to stay put and guard the box. Secondary protocol is to pull stakes and report to a designated location and wait for further instructions. Silas instituted it a few years back."

"That's why he cleared out of the farmhouse," said Emma.

"Who can initiate secondary protocol?" Damon asked.

"Only Silas."

"That's impossible. He's locked up."

"What location? Where are they going?" Emma asked.

"I don't know. It was to be given by verbal command which is why we got to get going and start tracking the Sentinels. They're gathering and Silas is behind it."

"We don't know if there's anything happening with Silas, but what we do know is that Mikael has the box and we need to get it back," said Damon.

"It's biometrically sealed. They can't decrypt it without the Sentinel's blood which is why the box isn't an issue," Kol replied.

"The box is always an issue," Emma interrupted.

"I'll go after the Sentinel. You go after Mikael and you'll be fine with him."

"No. Damon goes with you."

"What?" Damon asked.

"There are at least three Sentinels out there, okay? You're gonna be outgunned. It's gonna take the both of you."

"Emma, I just got here. I can't leave you now."

"This isn't about us."

"You have no way of finding Mikael."

"Yeah, she does. When Mikael started threatened me, I figured…I'd keep tabs. I put a tracker on his car," said Kol.

"Damon, we'll have the time to deal with _us_ later."

"You realize every law enforcement agency in the region is on high alert and you're chasing Mikael into the heart of Collective territory? You don't even know where he's headed."

"Yes. But it's the right thing to do. And you're right. I don't know what I'm gonna find there."


	14. Black Clouds

It had been a long few days since Emma had returned from Russia. She had brought back Caroline with her who had recently discovered her once thought dead mother was alive. Damon and Kol had also discovered what the Sentinels were up to and that Shane was directing them. Emma returned from a run on the beach to see Ric in the kitchen.

"You going to track in all that sand again?" Ric asked. "I'm not the maid you know."

"Clearly," said Emma, noticing Ric was still in his robe and was fixing a bag of popcorn. She saw him pour a bottle of butter on it. "You know, The Syndicate doesn't even need to kill you. You're doing just fine on your own. What's the update on the Sentinels?"

"Your boy, Kol, lost track of the last two somewhere near Brussels. I'm helping him out with sat surveillance, but it's like trying to find a needle in a needle stack. Damon's on his way back here. He thinks the Sentinels are en route to the States."

"To break Silas out of The Syndicate?"

"Well, Damon destroyed their Black Boxes. What else is a 'roid-ranging Terminator going to do with his spare time?" Emma sighed and walked over to Caroline, handing her a cup of tea.

"Here."

"Thanks. When's Damon getting here?"

"Soon."

"How are you two doing?"

"I don't know."

"None of my business."

"No. I mean, I don't know. Things were great and then I had to screw it all up."

"Hey, guys, the Sentinels didn't just decide to do this on their own. Silas has got to be pulling the strings somehow," said Ric.

"How? He's in complete isolation in a glass cube at the bottom of the silo," said Caroline.

"He doesn't talk to anybody?"

"Only me and Esther."

"Any chance those two could be teaming up?" Emma asked.

"No way. He would ask to speak to me instead of her. They're like divorced parents and I'm the kid stuck in the middle."

"He's never had you relay any messages or pass anything to anyone?" Ric asked.

"No, I would never. The money I used to get to Russia."

"Wait, you weren't funded by The Syndicate?" Emma asked.

"No, Esther kept dangling the carrot and I got sick of waiting. Silas gave me a cut of a bank transfer."

"An electronic bank transfer," Ric sighed.

"It was my fault."

That night, Caroline was washing a cup at the sink.

"Hey, Occupy Beach House. Can you grab me a fresh one of these?" Ric asked, motioning to his energy drink. Caroline opened the fridge and was disgusted by the amount of junk food.

"You want ice?"

"I prefer mine neat." Caroline brought the drink over.

"I'm going to run to the store. Do you want anything like bread, milk, actual food?"

"Beer. I know you got ID." Caroline rolled her eyes. An alarm then buzzed. "Head's up. We got someone at the gate."

"It's Damon," said Emma from the balcony. Ric pressed a key and the door opened. Damon walked in.

"How's it going, buddy?" Damon asked Ric.

"Well, you know what they say. Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

"I always thought that was a load of crap."

"Yeah, no kidding." They hugged as Emma walked down the stairs.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Care."

"Me either."

"I heard about Russia."

"Yeah, no place like home, right? I couldn't have gotten through it without Emma. I'm gonna let you two talk."

"Yeah, I've got that thing to check on too," said Ric. The two left the room.

"Look, Damon what I did during the Gaines op…I did what I always do. I made the decision for you and uh…"

"Shh." He placed a finger on her lips. "Forget it. It's in the past. I want to look toward the future. A future with you. We have to end this fight that we're in. Once and for all." Suddenly, a bullet hit the glass of the window, but didn't shatter it. Emma and Damon ducked. Outside, Caroline was beating up the shooter.

"Stop. Stop," said Tyler.

"No. You stop," said Emma as she appeared behind Tyler with her gun cocked. Damon hit him from behind, knocking him out.

"Get him inside."

A few minutes later, Tyler was awake and Emma was turning out all the lights in the house.

"Where's your back-up? Where's The Syndicate?" Emma asked.

"Ric, give me the binos. I'm going up on the roof," said Damon after tying up Tyler.

"Damn it. Do you know how much ballistic glass costs!" Ric yelled. "Kevlar blinds. We are not leaving a Navy SEAL alive if we're fighting off an alpha team."

"He's right. They come busting through that door, you're the first one we drop," said Emma.

"He's clean. No tracker, no coms."

"If they were here, they'd have attacked already. They're not out there, are they? No tracker, no coms, no back-up. Nobody knows where you are and you don't want us to know that. How'd you find us?"

"He must have followed me. It's the only thing that makes sense," said Caroline. "You used me. I know it. How'd you do it? Hmm? How?" Tyler looked at her watch.

"Must have put a tracker in it," said Ric.

"No. My father's watch? My father's watch! We got to smash it."

"Hey, hey. No. I can get it out," said Ric. "Give it to me." She gave the watch to Ric.

"Not even your mama's going to save you now," said Emma.

"His mother?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, his mother is a member of Oversight. He didn't tell you that?"

"Wow. You are full of surprises. I almost wish you'd tracked me down with an alpha team instead. That way I could use you as a body shield. Why didn't you bring them? Hmm? Why?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt." Caroline punched him. Emma walked over to Ric and Damon.

"I say we cap him," said Ric. "It's not like we can ever let him go. He knows where we are. We let SEAL team six-pack there leave, he's going to roll right back at us with the cavalry."

"Why kill him if we can use him as a bargaining chip?" Emma asked. "We've all seen how far he's willing to go for his mother. Let's see how far his mother's willing to go for him."

"I don't think the other members of Oversight give a damn about this guy," said Damon. "When push comes to shove, they'd save their own skins over his. I say we keep him tied up and leave him. By the time anyone came here, we'd be gone."

"Are you kidding me? This guy takes a shot at us and we have to move?" Ric asked.

"This isn't Tyler's fault," said Caroline.

"What?"

"I always wondered what a guy like that was doing at The Syndicate. Now I know. He'd do anything to protect his mother."

"Great. So he's Norman Bates. Let's add him to the team," said Ric sarcastically.

"Ric, he's wrong. He doesn't deserve to die."

"You want to know about my time in The Syndicate? Well here it is," said Caroline. "Tyler came to me asking for the truth about Matt Donovan. This guy has his doubts."

"He's never heard our side of the story," said Emma. "Maybe we should give it to him. Try to convince him we're not the bad guys."

"You really think you can turn a Navy SEAL?" Damon asked.

"I think we have some common ground. If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." Emma sat down in front of Tyler. "You look thirsty, soldier. Can I get you some water? Tyler. This isn't an interrogation. It's a conversation. What do you know about me?"

"I know you're trying to kill my mother."

"I've never killed a member of Oversight. You have. All Oversight does is fund The Syndicate and we both know that that place doesn't deserve to be in business any longer."

"Let me ask you a question," said Damon. "What would have happened if you had succeeded in killing us? What then? You think they'd let you go back to your SEAL unit?"

"They know if they go after me, I'll go straight to the authorities."

"You would never get that far," said Emma. "If they feel you're dangerous, not even your mother can help you."

"And if she reacted too strongly, she'd suffer the same fate as her son," Damon added.

"You've seen how Oversight eats their own."

"Tyler, you're protecting her from the wrong people," said Caroline.

"And who are you? The right people?" Tyler asked.

"Nice to meet you," Emma smiled. "Now, let's try this again. You look thirsty, soldier. Can I get you some water?" Tyler nodded. Caroline grabbed a glass of water and helped Tyler drink it. The two talked for a brief time until Ric noticed something.

"Ahoy, shipwreck. You know you got a bug in your phone?" Ric asked.

"What? Were they tapping my phone conversations?"

"They were bugging you whenever you had your phone on. Call or no call."

"Esther," said Caroline.

"My mother told me Oversight wasn't happy with her. They were looking for new leadership. She was listening."

"Wait a minute. Oversight's unhappy with Esther?" Emma asked.

"That's great," said Ric.

"If you're okay with mass murder, by all means, enjoy the show."

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked.

"Oversight is thinking of executing Clean Sweep."

"Clean Sweep? What the hell is that?" Damon asked.

"Years ago when Silas created The Syndicate, Oversight insisted he build in a failsafe, so he could erase the evidence at any time. There's a tank of vervain gas mixed with super-concentrated Red Eye tapped into The Syndicate's ventilation system. Twenty minutes after Oversight pulls the trigger, the place will be a mass grave.

"Nobody would ever find it because nobody even knew it was there," said Ric.

"All those people…" Damon said.

"You mean all those people you're trying to kill," said Tyler.

"The hell we were," Emma spat. "That was us once. They're not there by choice."

"We wouldn't have killed the foot soldiers if we'd captured their leaders," said Damon. "We tie them to their crimes and send them over to the authorities."

"Why is Oversight doing this? They sound panicked," said Emma.

"Black Boxes, rogue agents, failure to catch Emma. Thanks to you, The Syndicate has become expendable. My mother's trying to stop it, but she's the sole voice of dissent. She has no leverage."

"She's about to get some," said Emma. "Ric, fire up the scrambler. We're going to call Oversight. Thanks to you we have the number."

"What are you going to tell them?" Ric asked.

"I'm going to tell them that they trigger Clean Sweep, we upload the Black Box. That's something they can't clean."

"Last time I checked we don't have one of those."

"They don't know that," said Caroline.

"And luckily we have someone they trust," said Emma, looking at Tyler.

"You don't have to make that call. I will." They released him from his restraints and he called his mother.

"Tyler, you have to get back here right now," said Carol.

"That depends entirely on you," said Emma.

"Is he alive?"

"For now."

"I'm here," said Tyler. "They got me."

"Tyler."

"Listen, I told them about Clean Sweep and they have other plans. If Oversight implements the protocol, they will upload the contents of a Black Box."

"What Black Box? You destroyed it."

"Somehow they managed to get their hands on another. I'm looking right at it. Look, I know this isn't the solution you wanted, but it might be the one that we…" Suddenly, gunshots were heard over the phone.

"What the hell was that?" Damon asked. Damon overheard a Sentinel on the phone. "I recognize that voice. It's a Sentinel. That's why they were gathering. Their target was Oversight."

"Silas," Emma growled. One of the Sentinels called Esther.

"Release Silas or you will eliminate all the members of Oversight?" Esther asked. "Sounds good to me."

"Keep listening," said Silas.

"Failure to comply will result in the activation of Clean Sweep. If you attempt evacuation, we will trigger the protocol immediately."

"You wouldn't!" Esther yelled at Silas.

"I told you. The Syndicate is mine or no one's. You had your chance. There's nothing you can do to stop this."


	15. Blow It Away

"Silas is bluffing," said Emma.

"He's not," Tyler replied. "My mother told me that Clean Sweep could be activated from anywhere."

"Yeah, but it can be deactivated from the ventilation control," said Ric.

"Silas would have thought of that," Emma interrupted.

"There has to be a way to stop this," said Caroline.

"There is. Kill the Sentinel, grab the trigger."

"What are we talking about here? Saving The Syndicate?" Ric asked.

"Saving lives," Damon replied.

"Lives that are trying to kill us. You want to save them so they can keep trying to kill us?

"It's not about saving The Syndicate, Ric. It's about ending this our way, not Silas's. We're gonna need directions to Oversight."

"I'll tell you on the way there."

"You tried to kill us," Damon scoffed. "What makes you think you're along for the ride?"

"I was trying to protect my family. Still am."

"Tyler, we're going out there to save her," said Caroline.

"Well, then you'll need a lot more than just her location. You'll need a tactical breakdown of the perimeter and the interior. You need me there."

"Fine. Just the navigator. No weapon and you listen to everything we say," said Emma. "Ric, think of a way to remotely deactivate the trigger."

"I told you, I would have seen this system if it existed, okay, it's not enough just to pump gas in there, you have to close off the outside vents, shut down the elevators. All that takes power. And I personally retailored the electrical grid when I…was there."

"What?" Damon asked.

"The old generator."

"The emergency backup?"

"No. The generator that used to power the missile base."

"Can you hack it?" Emma asked.

"The only way to shut that thing down is to cut the hardline up close and personal."

"Well, we can't get in there."

"I can," said Caroline.

"Caroline, that place is a gas chamber waiting to happen."

"If I hadn't sent that bank transfer, the Sentinels wouldn't be where they are right now. I need to do this. And I'm the only one who can."

"Okay. Caroline heads to The Syndicate. We head to Oversight."

"Can I speak with you for a second?" Damon asked. "So that's two Sentinels, Esther, and one rogue Navy SEAL. That's a lot of variables for one mission."

"At least we know what the variables are."

A few minutes later, Emma and Damon arrived with Tyler at a historic house in the woods.

"Those were the perimeter guards," said Tyler.

"Well, it's definitely the right place," Damon replied.

"Used to be a safe house during the revolutionary war. 8,000 square feet, three stories including the cellar and at least one point of egress on every side."

"Is our line still open?"

"Sounds like they're moving the hostages," said Emma. "Clear the perimeter. Set up two long-distance shots. They're the only ones we're going to get with two chemically enhanced killers."

"It will be faster if we split up," said Tyler.

"No," said Emma and Damon simultaneously.

"We do the sweep together," Emma added as she handed Tyler a weapon. She then received a call from Caroline.

"Hey, it's me. We have a problem."

"With the generator?"

"With Silas. He was on his way to you and he just took out the alpha team that was escorting him."

"Where is he now?"

"He disabled the vehicle tracker. What are you gonna do?"

"You just focus on your objective. Now that Esther's lost her leverage over Silas, nothing's going to stop him from hitting that trigger. Caroline, you are our best shot at stopping Clean Sweep."

As morning dawned, Silas arrived at Oversight's safe house. When he got out of his car, Emma appeared behind him, pointing her gun.

"Hi, Silas."

"You, here. What are the odds?"

"Tell your Sentinels to give up the Clean Sweep trigger and Oversight and you may get out of here alive."

"Damon, I see you're embracing the whole 'rebel without a cause' motif, right down to the hairstyle."

"Can I shoot him now?" Damon asked.

"Not yet."

"I crashed your little Sentinel party in Amsterdam. The Boxes are gone along with your insurance policy."

"How do you think we got here? We followed your boys."

"Even if that were the case, the Sentinels have been given strict instructions to pull the trigger and gas The Syndicate if anything happens to me. I feel like I've landed in an alternate universe. You fighting to save The Syndicate," said Silas.

"I don't expect you to understand me, Silas."

"I understood your question for vengeance. But this war has no end in sight."

"That's funny because I see an end in sight right here."

"Such a commanding presence. It's like you're leading the new crusades. So many people willing to lay down their lives for you. Like that poor fool over there. Tyler Lockwood. That's a hell of a get. I can still see your pimply face on the family Christmas cards. Looks like the Navy made a real man out of you. You're here for Senator Carol. Mommy." His phone rang. "If I don't answer it, Patrick will wonder what's happened to me." Emma took the phone and answered it.

"I have Silas. Give me the trigger and release the hostages or he dies."

"How do I know he's not dead already?"

"Tell them our demands."

"Kill them all but Carol." Emma punched Silas.

"Son of a bitch!"

"I think we both know they had it coming and now that Oversight's out of the way I'm willing to negotiate. I'll give you Senator Lockwood if you let me go with the trigger."

"Tyler, cover him." Emma walked toward Damon.

"We can't go along with this."

"We have to."

"Giving him the trigger?"

"If Caroline kills the power on site, we're in the clear. He doesn't know about her, Damon."

"You've become a world class operative, Emma. I just hope someday you stop trying to run from who you really are," said Silas.

"Shut up before I change my mind about blowing your head off."

"Clear!" said Patrick as he walked out of the house. One of the Sentinels brought Silas the trigger and they walked away.

"We have unidentified agents approaching from the east," said Tyler. The Sentinels, Tyler, Emma, and Damon fired at the agents.

"They're Russian," said Emma.

"The Collective must have been tracking Patrick," said Damon as he fired.

"They're trying to take Tyler's position. Cover me."

"Negative. Get inside the house," Tyler replied over his com. "Collective agents might be inside already. You have to get her out."

"I'll stay and cover him, Emma," said Damon as Silas escaped. Emma walked into the house and untied Carol.

"Where's Tyler?"

"He's outside and you're welcome."

"Behind you." Emma shot two Russians. Another appeared behind her, but Damon killed him.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked, running to his mother.

"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you."

"This is Admiral Winnick of Southern Command," said Damon.

"Yes, he was," Carol replied.

"This is Esther. Confirm The Syndicate survived," said Emma, dialing a number on Carol's phone.

"Senator, are you all right?" Esther asked.

"Yes. Silas and his men have left. Clean Sweep, has it been…"

"Averted. Silas must have lost control of the trigger or perhaps it was destroyed. Whatever the case I've made sure Clean Sweep will never threaten The Syndicate again. Shall I send escorts for you and the others?"

"It's just me."

"That's…unfortunate. We'll get to work on a cover story right away to explain their deaths. Most likely the act of a deranged domestic terrorist."

"Yes. Make sure it looks as though they died heroes. Once things settle down, we need to discuss how to proceed with The Syndicate. Needless to say after recent events, a low profile is in order."

"Absolutely."

"We'll discuss it next week in Washington."

"It's probably best to keep communications to a minimum. As you say we should all keep our heads down."

"Esther."

"After all, we wouldn't want to risk setting off any flags with your colleagues in DC, but I promise The Syndicate will stay strong and alert. Good-bye."

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked.

"It's Esther. I've lost control of her."

"If The Syndicate's truly gone rogue, you have no choice. You have to contact the CIA."

"Yeah. What are they going to do? Send in the Marines?" Damon asked.

"The Syndicate's an army. You're going to have a war on your hands," said Emma.

"She's right. Enough people have died."

"It's funny. You seem to be so concerned about the body count now. Didn't bother you when you were sanctioning all those hits."

"They were necessary."

"Oh, I'm sure it seemed necessary in this room, but I was the one who had to pull the trigger."

"You're right. I don't know what it's like. We forced you into slavery. I don't know what it was like in The Syndicate which is why you're the only one who can take it down without exposing it to the public."

"I hate to say it, but she has a point," said Damon. "Exposing The Syndicate is just as bad as releasing the Black Boxes."

"This is the person who put a target on our backs."

"I know."

"What if I could fix that?" Carol asked. "Clear your names. A presidential pardon."

"If you reveal your part in this to the president, you'll go to prison," said Tyler to his mother.

"No. I would receive immunity for my silence. What do you say?"

"I thought today was going to be the day it all ended," said Damon. "It might not have worked out that way, but this is the first time I can see a real light at the end of the tunnel for all of us."


	16. Song 2

As the waves crashed on the beach, Emma sent two punches Damon's way as they sparred in the living room. As she blocked a punched from him, she hit him in the side.

"I forgot how good you are when you're angry," Damon groaned.

"I forgot how easy you are to beat." She dodged a few of his punches and the two grappled until Damon flipped her onto the floor, straddling her.

"Nice try," Damon whispered before he kissed her.

"I can't believe I made it. Two Syndicate tails," said Caroline, entering the house, as Damon pulled Emma up from the floor. "One on the train and one on the street. I think the satellites are hot too. I got ten minutes. Tops."

"Esther has you under surveillance? What are you doing here?" Damon asked.

"I asked her to come," Emma replied. "What's the update?"

"Esther definitely has complete control of The Syndicate. She's strutting around the place like she just won _Top Model_. No Oversight, no boundaries. You wanna know what she's doing with all that power? Nothing. No missions have been activated, nothing is in prep. The only thing she's running is the propaganda machine. Oversight gets wiped out, but nobody's the wiser. She's turned it into a national tragedy. The world thinks that some anti-government wacko did it."

"That can't be all she's up to," said Damon.

"Oh, I asked her. She says I should think of The Syndicate as a boutique agency. Only the most vital missions."

"Vital to whom?"

"And why is she telling you this?" Emma asked.

"There is one mission she's prepping. She wants to help me get my mother out of Russia. Says she has a plan."

"Okay, listen to her and then say no," said Damon.

"Damon. She can't. She won't. I wouldn't."

"Are you saying that I should do it?"

"Well, I'm saying that if you want to get your mother out of Russia, it's better that Esther works with you instead of against you. Keep your enemies closer."

"If you get close to Esther, you'd better know what she's up to," said Damon.

"She wants my father's corporation and I'm the perfect way for her to do that."

"So what happens when you change her plans?"

"We'll blow that bridge when we come to it," said Emma. "For now it's a smart plan. Get out of here. Keep your eyes and ears open."

That night, Damon and Emma were loading ammo into gun cartridges when the computer beeped.

"It's Ric," said Damon.

"What's up?"

"He's in Seattle looking into countermeasures for the house. With two signal intrusions, it almost…"

"What is it?"

"He said you made the local news." He played a video.

"Newark police detective, Peter Edmonds was shot and killed outside this local bar last night and the case has a bizarre and shocking twist. You're looking at the late Emmalyne Salvatore, leader of the vampire coven that was killed ten years ago. Apparently, Emma's still got some fans." On the side of a car Emma's name was painted. "A 911 call wasn't any help in identifying the shooter."

"Could you tell us your name, sir?"

"I'd like to remain anonymous," said Silas.

"What the hell is he doing?" Damon growled. "Trying to expose you?"

"No. Because that would expose The Syndicate and he still wants that back. He's trying to shake me up." Emma sat down on the steps and stared out into space. Damon sat with her and was about to put his arms around her when Emma's phone rang.

"It's from the senator's office. Going secure."

"I have Silas on the line," said Carol. "Can you trace it through your equipment?"

"Silas called your office? What does he want?"

"He wants to speak with you."

"Transfer it."

"I take it you got my message," said Silas.

"Yeah, it was subtle, but I caught it."

"I'm glad the senator could help facilitate this call. It shows she still has some use left."

"What do you want?"

"I'm seeing the appeal. Being on the road, on the run," said Silas as Damon began to trace the call. "It's exciting."

"Silas, what do you want?"

"Well, just that it occurred to me as we are both rogue now that we share a common enemy."

"The only person I want to kill more than Esther is you."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that."

"I like you afraid."

"No. I am afraid for you. You see, Emma, I had a plan to overthrow Esther and restore order to The Syndicate, but your vindictiveness has denied me that. So now I'm gonna have to hurt you."

"Oh, you wanna meet on the playground after school? All right, I'm in."

"You're not listening. You took something from me and now I'm going to take something from you. Someone you love because now I'm feeling vindictive."

"Bring it on. All the people I love carry guns."

"Not Abby Bennett. Hello? Anyone there?"

"I don't care about her."

"Of course you don't care about the woman who got you off Red Eye. Yeah, I know about that. I know more than you know about yourself and I'm gonna use it to cause you pain."

"You won't be able to find her."

"One good thing about not having The Syndicate anymore is that I need only focus on one operation at a time. You wanted Daddy's attention, you got it." He ended the call and Damon's trace didn't pick up his location.

"You okay?" Damon asked.

"No, I'm not okay. When I left The Syndicate, I was miserable without you. I got hooked on Red Eye and Abby got me clean. I'm not gonna let Silas hurt her."

"Emma, you know this is a trap."

"What choice do I have? He says he's gonna go after her, he's gonna go after her."

"He's using you to get her into the open. What if he's already on to Abby and he's–"

"Waiting for us when we get there? Oh, I hope he is. I really do."

"You don't owe this woman anything. She abandoned you. She let you down."

"No. I let her down. I just don't like to think about it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Abby got me clean, but I relapsed. I was really sick, Damon. I couldn't let go of everything. I couldn't forgive. I ran. I got high and I went back to find her. I needed help, but she was gone."

"Is that why you haven't been looking for her? Because you feel guilty."

"I wanted The Syndicate dead and gone so that my life wouldn't affect her life anymore."

"Okay. If she's underground, it's going to be difficult to track her, but we'll find her."

Later, the couple met with Carol in her office.

"They brought you in through the tunnels?" Carol asked.

"Everything went like clockwork," said Damon.

"It's been a bit of a madhouse here."

"So you've had some calls?" Emma asked.

"Too many. You make one appeal to talk to a constituent, the phone starts ringing off the hook."

"I can't thank you enough, Senator. Wildflower has a special meaning for the two of us. She'll know it came from me. It might take a while but if Abby heard that phrase she will call."

"Good. Could be a long day."

That night, Abby finally called. Emma answered the phone.

"Abby?"

"Emma? Is it…"

"Yeah, it's me."

"How are you?"

"I need to see you. Can I see you?"

"Yeah."

"It's important. You name the time and the place. Okay, I'll come to you. Yeah, I know where that is. Down by the tracks. I'll see you there in an hour." Emma hung up. "Baltimore."

"Security can take you up the same way you came in," said Carol.

"We'll show ourselves out," said Damon. "There's no telling who might be following us."

Later in Baltimore, Maryland, Emma and Damon were walking down a street.

"Hey there, wildflower," said Abby.

"Abby."

"You look good. I never thought I'd hear from you again. Through a senator no less."

"Abby, my name is Damon. Is there a place where we can all talk? You said you live around here?"

"Yeah, I…I live right over here." She pointed to a car. Emma sighed at how far her friend had fallen. "Things have gotten bad."

"Abby, I had no idea."

"I had no idea about you. It's a good thing you're friends with a senator. I only get three channels on this. The Gates House is covered on all three."

"We should go," said Damon, watching the streets and surrounding buildings.

"How are you doing so well?" Abby asked.

"We gotta move," said Damon as Emma's phone rang.

"I have to take this. Yeah?"

"Hi, do you remember when you told me about that woman who helped get you clean, Abby Bennett?" Caroline asked.

"I do."

"There's a standing kill order out on her. Emma, she's on Esther's personal task list. Above Silas, above you. Why would The Syndicate want to kill her?"

"I gotta go. You're Syndicate?"

"What?" Abby asked.

"Don't lie to me."

"What the hell is The Syndicate?"

"Government program. Kill for them or you die. I've been running from them for four years. I'm still running and I thought that they were using you to get to me. Oh, Damon. She's on the top of Esther's kill list."

"Esther?" Abby asked. "What happened to Silas?" Emma and Damon looked at Abby with a look of shock.

"So you are The Syndicate," said Damon.

"It wasn't called that when I was there. Emma, I had no idea." Silas then arrived with Patrick and Shane. The three of them ducked behind a car. Damon and Emma fired on them before taking cover again.

"It's Silas."

"They're gonna try and flank us."

"We gotta leapfrog back!"

"What about Abby?"

"They're not gonna hurt you again. Not because of me," said Abby. She walked toward Silas and entered his car.

"Been a long time."

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Very much so."

"Then drive. And leave her the hell out of this mess." Silas whistled to his men and they backed off, leaving in Silas' car. Later, Emma and Damon arrived back at their house.

"She was real. I knew her. How?" Emma asked.

"Emma, I haven't heard the name Abby Bennett before you told me and we were at The Syndicate for ten years. "

"It's too big of a coincidence, Damon. The one person I know who's farthest from The Syndicate?"

"It can't be a coincidence. There has to be an answer. Maybe The Syndicate was after Abby. You said she was on the run when you knew her. Maybe she was running away from them. But that doesn't explain why Silas wanted her alive."

"What do you mean?"

"This wasn't a trap. He didn't use Abby to find you. He used you to find Abby. But why?"

"If Abby was on the run from The Syndicate when I met her, she was already their enemy. Damon, I need answers."

"I know, I know. And we're going to get them."

"How?"

"Find Silas."

"How?"

"I don't know. I just want to put a bullet in him."

"Well, now you can. His dead man switch is useless. His dead man switch. It's like a pacemaker, right? It's designed to send out a signal?"

"Yeah."

"Is there a way we can hone in on that signal?"

"Emma."

"Use it like a tracker implant. Lead us straight to him."

"We already thought of that. Ric and I. It won't work."

"Why not? It's just reverse ping."

"Yes, but the signal can only be reverse-pinged through Syndicate satellite nodes."

"So we'd have to be inside The Syndicate."

"Inside Operations." Emma called Caroline.

"What's happening?" Caroline asked.

"Oh, you know. Mind blowing tragedy. Just another Tuesday."

"What?"

"Never mind. I need your help."

"Did you find Abby?"

"No, you're gonna find her for us. By finding Silas."

"What?"

"You need to do it from inside Operations, using Syndicate satellites."

"How am I gonna keep it from Esther?"

"You're not." Caroline later sent them Silas' location. In half an hour, Emma and Damon arrived at the factory Silas was holed up in.

"I scored some floor plans from the records office. There's a foreman's office in the middle of the factory floor. If I had Abby, that's where I'd keep her."

"You hear the way she asked about him? Like they were old friends," said Emma as she loaded her gun.

"Well, we're here to get answers, not jump to conclusions."

"Careful what you wish for."

"If there's one thing I know, the truth can set you free."

"Or put you in a whole new prion. Looks like Silas' car."

"Emma, I know you have a lot of questions but don't forget. Abby did save you. And if it wasn't her, I would have never seen you again. You would be dead." Emma smiled. "There's The Syndicate. Those aren't grab teams."

Emma and Damon entered the warehouse just as the lights went dark. They took down two Syndicate agents who had their sights on Abby and Silas while Silas disabled two other agents. Emma ran up the stairs and Silas grabbed Abby in a chokehold.

"Let her go," Emma ordered. "You won't do it."

"You're right." He released Abby and ran, escaping in his car. When Emma and Damon returned to the house, Damon handed Abby a glass of water.

"I told you you'd save somebody else someday," said Abby. "Emma, I know you have a lot of questions. I have spent so much time on the run. Just lost in my own head. And then to see you. When you told me you were in The Syndicate, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a trick and then I couldn't accept the coincidence. But then I remembered there are no coincidences."

"I don't care about your philosophy, Abby. I want the truth."

"The truth is this is a nightmare for me. You being involved in this and me being the cause of it all. What I'm trying to tell you is that everything that has happened to you is a gift. No, more than that. It's destiny."

"That's enough. You're upsetting her," said Damon. "And I don't believe a word you're saying. I worked for The Syndicate for ten years and I've never heard of you. Neither of us have."

"I wasn't in the program, Damon. I created it."


	17. Dangerzone

As Emma sat on a log looking out toward the ocean, Abby walked up to her and sat down.

"You know in those first days at The Syndicate, when they were ripping out the person I used to be…how could you create something so evil, Abby?"

"It's not evil. I was saving lives. Lives that the system was going to throw away. I saved all of you."

"You cursed us. You made us into the killers you all truly thought we were."

"That was Esther. She is evil. She took my idea of transformation and giving second chances and she corrupted it. Without her, it can be saved."

"Why are you so focused on Esther?"

"Because she tried to have me killed." A few minutes later, Abby and Emma walked back to the house.

"Look, lady, we've been trying to crack Esther for awhile," said Ric. "She doesn't exactly have any weak points."

"Except for you," said Damon. "Come on. Think. What do you have on Esther?"

"I told you. I don't know. She hated me from the start."

"Well that might explain why she tried to off you the first time but not why she's devoted to taking you down now. She's afraid of you or something that you might know about her."

"That's what Silas seems to think."

"And we all know he'd never lie," said Emma sarcastically.

"Silas wants to take Esther down just as much as you do. You do want to take her down, right?"

"I want to take down The Syndicate and Silas wants it back. There's a difference."

"Incoming. Encrypted line," said Ric. "It's Caroline."

"Caroline?" Emma asked over her phone.

"Operation Karolina is a go."

"Good. You ready?"

"Guess so. It's weird. I feel like I'm about to tell everyone I'm Iron Man or something."

"You've been in hiding a long time. It's gonna feel weird, stepping into the light. Just remember. I've got your back. Always. Now tell me about your approach."

"Emma has someone on the inside?" Abby asked.

"It's a long story," Ric chuckled.

"Emma saved her, turned her life around," said Damon.

"Guess it's not that long," said Ric.

"If this Caroline is on the inside, I mean, why don't you use her to get to Esther?" Abby asked.

"It's too dangerous. Even if she survived the attempt, she would never escape alive," said Damon.

"Maybe she could poke around and get Esther to tell her the secret."

"I doubt Esther would just tell anyone," said Ric.

"They're right," said Emma after ending her call with Caroline. "We're gonna find this thing that Esther's afraid of. It's gonna be through you. So…start from the beginning. Tell us everything we don't know. We've got time."

"In the beginning, it was just Silas and me. We started out of a back office in DC with a few vampires the police had captured. This was before the work camps. After some early successes, he wanted to expand, get a bigger sponsor, and he found one."

"Oversight," said Ric. Abby looked confused.

"It was the codename for the group. It was illegal," said Emma.

"I didn't know that. I just identified the candidates."

"When did Esther get involved?" Damon asked.

"Like I said, Silas wanted to expand. Esther and I hated each other from day one, but still I was surprised when she sent someone to kill me. I didn't think she'd take it that far but she made one mistake. She sent Brian to do the deed."

"Brian?"

"One of my firsts. Brian told me that Esther had doctored evidence, made it look like I was going to go to Congress, blow the whistle on Silas, expose the program. It's why he approved the hit. But Brian was one of mine. And he said he would go back and tell everyone that I was dead. He gave me time to run. She needs to die."

"No arguments there," said Ric as his computer beeped. "Showtime." They watched as Caroline crashed Kaminski's press conference.

"Make sure Caroline doesn't have any surprises," said Emma.

"Usual cast of supporting characters. Collective thugs in trench coats, Collective thugs in suits, Lord Voldemort."

"Wait a second. Go back," said Abby, recognizing Mikael. "I know that guy."

"Mikael?" Emma asked.

"Mikael Mikaelson, Director of Intelligence for The Collective, and as of a few months ago, Head of Security for Kaminski," said Ric, pulling up some files. "Started his career off in the KGB working in the First Chief Directorate. Then a stint in SVR before joining The Collective. This ring any bells?"

"I wasn't in Operations," said Abby. "He wasn't Russian. He was American. Maybe Southern."

"So he was undercover. Where did you meet him, here or somewhere overseas?" Emma asked.

"It was somewhere local, somewhere public."

"Like a restaurant? A hotel?" Damon asked.

"A hotel. He was with Esther. I didn't make much of it. Back then Esther would meet with a lot of government types."

"Esther and Mikael?" Emma grimaced.

"Could Mikael be a Syndicate asset?" Damon asked.

"Silas sent me to kill him a few years ago so no," said Emma.

"Maybe Esther's a Russian mole," said Ric.

"Cross reference Esther's travel patterns for the past ten years with known sightings of Mikael, please."

"No crosses. If they've been meeting, they've kept it on the down low. I also charted recent Collective activity looking for anything weird…nada."

"Last time we ran into The Collective was…"

"The Gates House. The attack on Oversight," said Damon.

"We'd assumed they'd tracked a Sentinel to that location, but if they didn't."

"How else would they have found it?" Ric asked. "The only ones who knew were us and…"

"Esther," said Emma.

"She's been working with the Russians?" Abby asked.

"That's why she wanted you dead," said Damon. "You were the only one who could connect the two, identify the partnership, even if you didn't know it."

"I've got to warn Caroline."

A few minutes later in the hotel, Caroline pulled a gun on Mikael.

"You've got this all wrong," said Mikael

"Really?"

"I'm trying to help you."

"By killing me?"

"No, I'm on your side. I can prove it."

"Caroline, this is Esther. Mikael is telling the truth. We're working together," said Esther over Mikael's phone. "We have been for a while."

"All this tells me is that everything you said about protecting me has been a lie."

"No. I've been trying to help you."

"By collaborating with a man who's trying to kill me?"

"Mikael has been working behind the scenes to protect you. I wasn't able to say anything because I couldn't compromise his safety."

"His safety."

"From what I understand, you know all about the dangers of living as a mole," said Mikael.

"What do you think?"

"What do I…"

"Shh!" Caroline revealed the Bluetooth device in her ear.

"I don't trust him. Ask him why he didn't stop the guy The Collective sent to your room," said Emma.

"Why didn't you stop the guy sent to my room?"

"Kaminski has been watching my every move. That's why I came here to send a warning to you through Esther. I'm facing knives at every turn."

"Must be tough."

"Caroline, I hate Kaminski just as much as you do and I've been working for a long time to bring him down. But I've had to move very carefully. Esther and I both have had to move very carefully. Believe me. We all want the same thing." He showed Caroline a video of Kaminski ordering her death. "An end to Kaminski."

"So your plan was to release the video as evidence against Kaminski."

"Caroline, that plan only works if you're dead," said Emma.

"Tell her I'm on my way," said Damon as he left with a bag containing a rifle. A radio then went off. Caroline nodded to Mikael. Mikael spoke to one of his guards in Russian.

"We haven't much time," said Mikael. "As soon as they discover that the hit has failed, the backup plan goes into effect."

"Backup plan?"

"There are men all throughout the hotel. They have orders to shoot to kill."

"Won't that be a little bit hard to cover up for the media?"

"Kaminski will just come up with a story. You were mugged, or a crazed fan broke in. All he wants is to see you dead. He'll clean up the mess later. Listen if you don't believe me." He ordered a role call for all units. "The only way you leave here alive is to let me guide you out."

"Damon's on his way to you," said Emma.

"He won't make it in time. Looks like I'm going to have to trust this bastard."

"Trust won't be necessary. Put him on the phone with me." Caroline handed Mikael her phone.

"Yes."

"You're not the only one who can make a recording, Mikael." She played a recording of Mikael stating his hatred for Kaminski. "I hit one button, this thing goes live over the hotel's PA system. Everyone in the building will hear it including Kaminski. You got that? Caroline dies…"

"I die, yes. I understand. Keep this channel open, Caroline. It will let you hear everything going on in the command suite."

"Where am I headed?"

"Sub-basement. All the ground-floor exits will be covered. Your best bet is the service driveway. Two guards, both outside, and avoid the elevators. I wish you luck."

"You better."

Meanwhile, Abby was arguing with Emma.

"Hold on. You are not gonna make a deal with him."

"Not now, Abby."

"He is Esther's partner!"

"Caroline, can you hear me? You've been through worse, okay? I've got a gun to Mikael's head. He goes down, Esther goes down too. Without his bankroll, Esther will lose The Syndicate. It is in their interest for you to survive. Scramble the security cameras, Ric."

"Done. And I rerouted the security feeds here. Guest rooms there, service area there. I'll send the exterior to the tablet. Where'd you put it?" Abby had it.

"Abby, what are you doing?" Emma asked.

"Something I should have done a long time ago. I'm gonna destroy Esther."

"Wait, whoa."

"Lady, put that down now," said Ric, cocking his gun.

"Is that what you want, Emma? You want to kill me to save Esther?"

"Ric, put the gun down. I can handle her."

"I hate to tell you this, but your friend is cuckoo for a certain cereal."

"Ric, just put it down and disable the tablet, please."

"I can't do that. The audio file's already been uploaded to the hotel system."

"If you do this, Caroline loses her support. She could die."

"Come on. You've already blinded the cameras. Damon's on his way to help and from what I can see, she is more than capable of handling herself."

"Wait. Just wait till I find out that she's okay."

"We can't wait. With Esther, you will never know when you're gonna get another shot. She always finds a way out. We have to take her down now."

"Which brings us back to 'put my hardware down, bitch,'" said Ric.

"Abby, you have my word. We will get Esther."

"We can't wait."

"We will get Esther."

"You said so yourself. She's lost her funding. If she hooks up with the Russians, there will be no way for me to save the program."

"Save the program?"

"We get rid of Esther and we can restore it to what it once was. I told you it can be saved."

"We are so…far past that. There is no saving The Syndicate."

"Yes, there is. We kill Esther and there is."

"She pushes that button and Caroline is out in the cold," said Ric. "And we don't do that. We don't leave our friends to be Esther's victims."

"Abby, I am promising you. We will get her. Just let me make sure that Caroline is safe. You've waited years. Give me one day. One. Please." Abby handed over the tablet.

At the hotel, Caroline ran toward the service entrance. Two Collective guards headed her way, but Damon shot them with a sniper rifle from his car. A Syndicate SUV arrived and took Caroline away from the hotel safely.

The following morning, Emma watched as Caroline crashed Kaminski's follow-up press conference from the television.

"I thought she didn't want the company," said Ric.

"She doesn't," Emma replied.

"So what the hell is she doing?"

"She's declaring war." Emma sat down next to Abby who was looking out the glass doors. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Look, about yesterday, I…"

"You did what you had to do for your friend."

"And I made you a promise. But, Abby, I can't expose Mikael and Esther's relationship. Not yet."

"I know."

"You do?"

"I told you. Esther always finds a way out."

"She didn't."

"With your girl pressing deeper into the lion's den, she's gonna need Mikael and Esther to protect her."

"Only until I can talk her out of it. She's angry right now, so she's not gonna want to back down."

"I know how she feels."

"You've been away a long time. You don't know what The Syndicate's become."

"I know what I set out to do, and I know it can be that way again. I also know I was wrong. I let my hatred for Esther get the better of me. You were right, wildflower. I've got a lot to learn from you." Abby smiled and walked outside. When she was far enough from the house, she called Silas.

"I have to say I'm surprised you called," said Silas.

"Makes two of us. I need your help."

"What about Emma? "

"Let me be clear about this, Silas. We're going to reboot the program and put it on the right course. We're making heroes, right?"

"Absolutely. We'll be partners again just like we used to be."

"But this time you're gonna know better than to listen to someone like Esther because we are defined by the company we keep like Esther and Mikael." Silas was shocked.

"Mikael?" he asked, disgusted.

"They're working together."

"Course."

"Not that Emma will use that information to help us. She says that other priorities are more important."

"Nothing is more important than The Syndicate."

"That's why I'm coming to you. Because you're the only one who understands that. The Syndicate must be saved."


	18. Fight For All The Wrong Reasons

"I don't care what Esther wants. Let her and Mikael think that I'm ready to take over the company," said Caroline on the phone with Emma. "That's never gonna happen. All I want to do is get my mother back."

"I want that too, Caroline, but as long as you're there I can't make a move against Esther or Mikael. And I really, really want to."

"Two more days. That's all I need. I promise."

"For what?"

"I'm going home again. This time with the media. As long as there's a camera nearby, Kaminski won't risk an attack."

"How do you know that your mother will leave with you?"

"I don't. But I have to try to convince her." Emma ended the call. Abby looked over disapprovingly.

"Two more days."

"She's as stubborn as you are."

"Worse."

"I just wish that you could see the big picture."

"Abby…"

"What happens if Esther uses Caroline to overthrow Kaminski and gains control of the company?"

"Caroline doesn't want the company."

"I believe you. That's why Esther is gonna betray her. Work it so Mikael can take the throne, at which point she gets billions of Russian dollars and no one to stop her."

"It's never gonna happen."

"It's happening now! Look, sometimes you have to put what's right ahead of your personal feelings for the greater good."

"My personal feelings are right. First, you protect the people you love. Then you talk about the greater good."

"I guess I was wrong. You're definitely more stubborn." Emma laughed. Damon then entered the room.

"Emma, Ric found something. We need to talk and it's sensitive information."

"Damon, Abby is on our side. It's okay."

"You know what, that's okay. I actually want to get more air." Abby left the house.

"What's up?" Emma asked.

"There be some serious rumblings in the shadow world this week," said Ric. "Three related homicides, all in the tri-state area. In each case, the victim was grabbed at home, bodies dumped in random locations."

"You found a serial killer?"

"With a taste for victims who work for a certain black-ops group," said Damon. Meanwhile, Abby was walking outside when she called Silas.

"Esther is stepping up her plans. You've got to take The Syndicate away from her now."

"What's the situation with Emma?"

"She just doesn't get it. It's really frustrating."

"Well, I've got a solve for that. Give me your location. I'll send Shane and Patrick over to pay her a visit."

"No. I told you she's off limits. Now what are you doing about Esther?"

"Am I answering to you now? Look, let's just sit tight, let this hand play itself out. Esther's obsession with Caroline is gonna help us get The Syndicate back. Trust me."

In the house, Ric was tracking the serial killer cases.

"Found a new one."

"That's Paul," said Damon.

"Someone's declared open season on The Syndicate and they're killing agents at random?" Emma asked.

"It's a good day to be rogue," Ric quipped.

"I don't think that it's random," said Damon. "Remember a few years back when Silas got all paranoid about The Collective?"

"Yeah, he thought Kaminski was building a private army," said Ric. "Good call on that."

"He set up a Collective taskforce," Emma added.

"Right. Well, he assigned me to pick the agents," said Damon. "These agents."

"So you think The Collective's behind this?" Ric asked. "Doesn't Esther's boyfriend run that joint?"

"But their relationship is on the DL so maybe the orders come straight from Kaminski," Emma replied. "Mikael still has to pretend to carry them out, right?"

"I don't know but based on this list I'm pretty sure I know who the next target is," said Damon.

"Sucks to be them," said Ric.

"No. Not today," Emma smiled.

"Oh come on," Ric groaned. "Not again with the rescuing and the saving of the enemy."

"We could possibly build another alliance. Come on, The Syndicate's been battered this year. Us, Oversight, Esther versus Silas. The place is ripe for rebellion."

That night, Damon walked up to a Syndicate agent.

"Hello, Dina." She pulled her gun and fired. Damon quickly took cover. Dina turned and saw Emma.

"Can we talk?" Dina fired and Emma took cover. The agent ran and Damon and Emma chased after her. A car ran into Dina and then began shooting at Damon. Emma fought a masked man who came out of the car and was surprised by his battle tactics. He sliced her in the stomach with a vervain knife before dragging Dina into a car and taking off.

"Those weren't Syndicate agents," Emma grimaced as she slowly healed. "That was a Sentinel. I think I know which one."

When Damon and Emma returned home, they told Ric of what they'd discovered.

"So Silas is kidnapping Syndicate agents and framing The Collective for it?" Ric asked.

"Remember when you said The Syndicate was ripe for a little rebellion? That's exactly what Silas is hoping for," said Damon. "These attacks are specifically designed to damage Esther's leadership."

"That means Silas knows about Esther and Mikael's secret," said Emma.

"But how?" Abby asked. "We only figured it out because I saw Mikael at Caroline's press conference last week."

"Just because you couldn't remember doesn't mean that Silas stopped digging. He must have found out some other way."

The next morning, Ric ran into the kitchen while Damon and Emma were having breakfast.

"Guys just got a ping through an X-band relay that we monitor. Esther wants to chat."

"It has to be a trap," said Abby.

"Chill. She can't trace us here."

"Set it up," said Emma. A few minutes later, Emma spoke with Esther.

"My agents think The Collective's the threat. They're wrong, but I can't very well explain how I know that."

"Well, gee, Esther, I guess you were right. Personal relationships really are a bad idea," Emma mocked.

"My connection to Mikael is irrelevant. Silas has to be stopped. He's the one responsible for this bloodshed."

"You're responsible," said Abby. "You corrupted The Syndicate and now you want to sell it out to the enemy."

"Abby, self-righteous as ever."

"No, just plain righteous. I don't manipulate people to further my own agenda."

"Manipulating subjects was the basis of your entire program, though I have made significant improvements on it since then."

"Thanks for thinking of us, but we'll pass," said Damon. "Find someone else. We don't do your dirty work."

"I was speaking to Emma."

"Oh, I talked to her. She said there's no way in hell," said Emma.

"Then maybe there's someone else you'd like to help." To Emma's shock, Matt came onto the phone.

"Emma. Can you hear me?"

"Is that Matt?" Ric asked.

"No. He's gone. Emma was there," said Damon.

"What'd you do, Esther? Have your techs splice together some old recordings of Matt's voice?" Emma asked.

"Listen, the first time we met we were in that bunker in Chile. I asked who you were. You said 'Emma. You hung up on me.'"

"Matt," Emma gasped. "You died. How?"

"Surprised me too. The part where I was alive. The dying thing, I…I kind of saw that coming."

"Are you okay? She isn't…"

"I'm still in one piece. Esther's kept me alive to help her work on her special projects."

"I really hope for his sake that's not a euphemism," said Ric.

"Here's the offer," said Esther. "You bring me Silas, I'll give you Matt. Deal?"

"Bring you Silas?" Damon asked.

"Unfortunately, I need him alive to answer for his crimes."

"You got a deal," said Emma. A few minutes later, Ric was put into contact with Jenna, Esther's head technician.

"Your old hard drives are a mess. I've seen hoarders with better organizational systems," said Jenna.

"True genius cannot be contained."

"So it's official. We're working for Esther," said Abby.

"Well, technically, I'm only working with Jenna here," said Ric. "Emma thought putting our two giant brains together would give us the best chance of finding Silas. Jenna, you remember Abby? You guys tried to have her killed last week."

"I found the file. What does it do?"

"Well, before your time, Emmy kidnapped a certain Syndicate asset…"

"I've heard this story. She left you duct-taped to a swing set."

"Actually it was a rocking horse," said Damon.

"Whatever," Ric grumbled. "The point is she jammed my tracker. When I got back to The Syndicate, I started working on a back-channel system."

"A way to find someone even if their signal was being jammed. Have you tested this? I don't see how it will work."

"Bah-bah-bah. It is not yours to question the genius, only to marvel at it. Now all I need from you is a frequency for the missing agent."

"Jenna, you can change his frequency later," said Emma. "After we pull his ass out of Silas' frying pan."

"If we find the agent…"

"We find Silas," said Damon. "Your call." Abby nodded for Emma to talk to her in the hallway. Emma walked away from the boys.

"Esther is using your sympathies against you," said Abby. "Don't let her."

"I can't worry about punishing Esther right now when I can save Matt and get Silas off the streets at the same time."

"This isn't about punishment or revenge. It isn't. In the right hands, under the right leadership, The Syndicate can save so many more lives."

"Abby, The Syndicate is not a shield. It's a sword and it bleeds everything it touches."

"Got him!" Ric yelled.

"So fast?" Abby asked.

"I'm still not really sure what just happened," said Jenna.

"And that is why you fail. Except at hotness. At which you succeed."

"What?"

"You heard me. He's in Manhattan. Downtown."

That night, Silas was pouring himself a drink when he heard a gun cock behind him. He looked at his gun on the table.

"Go on," said Emma. "You can reach it." Silas reached for Emma's gun and tried to choke her, but she tasered him. "It's okay. I got you a new hat." Damon covered his head with a black cloth.

Later, Ric had created a make-shift interrogation room for Silas. Damon cable-tied him to a chair and took his phone.

"You mind if I do the honors?" Ric asked Emma.

"Please." Ric removed the hood and woke Silas up with smelling salts.

"Hey, boss. How you doing? Actually, I meant…" He punched Silas.

"Abby, look at you. Teaming up with the motley insurgents. Have they shown you the secret handshake yet?" Silas asked.

"This is not the time to be making jokes."

"I can't help it. Forgive me. Okay, interrogation. I'm terrified. What do you want to know?"

"Nothing really, we just need you to speak in that microphone," said Emma. "Confirm you're a happy, healthy hostage."

"You're not curious as to my grand design?"

"Oh, we worked it out," said Damon. "Esther did too, by the way. She knows you're behind these attacks."

"Mm. Working with Esther. Big victory for her. I know she was always pained by your defection."

"It's a one time deal," said Emma. "I made an exception for you."

"How do you feel about that?" Silas asked Abby.

"I don't like it. But what we're getting in return is worth it."

"I'm being traded? For what? Or whom? Matt Donovan. I actually kind of like the kid. He's got spirit. But worth as much as me?"

"Yeah, well, you can take it up with Esther," said Ric as he poured a sedative into a syringe. "We about done here?"

"You don't actually think this trade is gonna happen, do you? All of Esther's favorite people in one place and she's just gonna play by the rules. Interesting. Why don't you grab my phone and shoot Shane and Patrick a text? Round up everybody for the big kill."

"Don't worry, Silas," said Damon as he took the sedative from Ric. "If everything goes sideways, I'll make sure you die first." He sedated him and everyone left the room.

"Silas is right. Esther will double-cross you," said Abby. "It's what she does best."

"That's why we're not bringing Silas," said Emma.

"What?"

"At least not right away. Damon, can you hold him here? Top of the old machine shop?"

"Yeah, that's good. I'll have a line of sight on the trade area. As soon as we know they've got Matt, we bring him down."

"Great."

"Insurance. You can never have enough against Esther," said Ric as Damon and Emma left the room. Abby nodded and surreptitiously walked into Silas' interrogation room. She grabbed his phone and sent a message to Shane.

Later, Emma and Damon arrived at Hauppage Steel Factory.

"Where's Matt?" asked Emma to the Syndicate agents.

"Where's Silas?"

"I thought Silas was supposed to be at the machine shop," said Abby as she observed from the safe house with Ric.

"Emmy must have changed her mind." Abby went to the interrogation room to get Silas' phone, but it was gone.

"It ain't there," said Ric, holding Silas' phone. "Must have hit repeat on the Tivo cause here we go again." Ric pulled his gun on her.

"Ric."

"Emmy knew you were dirty the second Silas started killing agents."

"You're making a mistake."

"No, you made a mistake. You think we tracked that dead agent at Silas' place? There is no backchannel system! We piggybacked on the text messages you've been sending him. You gave us the location. It was all Emmy's idea. The student becomes the master. Worked so well we let you do it again. Now Shane thinks Silas is on the top floor of that building, which is exactly where we want him to go because that's where Esther's guy will be," said Ric as Emma brought Silas out and the Syndicate brought Matt. They initiated the trade. A Syndicate agent was preparing to fire a missile from the machine shop.

"You can't do this. You can't let Esther win."

"Didn't you hear me? We're double-crossing her double cross. None of you are gonna win. You know what really pisses me off? After all this is over, she's still gonna forgive you. That's the thing about Emmy. No matter how many times the people she loves let her down, she keeps on doing the right thing cause it's the only thing she knows how to do. Now turn around and put your hands on your head before I shoot you in both kneecaps." Abby walked forward. "Did you not hear me?"

"Shoot me."

"Stop."

"I've worked with my share of killers. You don't have it in you." Abby began to walk away.

"Stop. Abby, stop!" Ric shot her in the arm. "Sorry." Carla grabbed a gun and began to fire. Ric ducked and he fired the gun. Blood began to gush out of her stomach. Ric rushed to her with a first aid kit, trying to save her from bleeding out.

Meanwhile, Emma was watching in the factory as Silas walked away.

"Ric, he's on the move. Do you copy? Ric." When Matt reached them, Damon untied Matt and handed him a gun. Matt hugged Emma. A missile then hit the side of the factory, missing its target thanks to Shane. The Syndicate opened fire as Silas escaped. Patrick snuck into the factory, but appeared behind him with a pipe. With a sharp swing, she beheaded him while Shane got Silas out of the factory.

When Emma got the house, Abby was on the verge of death.

"Ric! Abby. Abby. Just wait. Hold on. We called a doctor we trust, okay?"

"I'm sorry," said Abby. "I'm sorry."

"Abby, please don't."

"We made a deal. Silas and I. We made a deal to save The Syndicate. To make it good. Like it was supposed to be. Like I know it can be. I know it can be. Because it made you." Abby passed away. Emma gasped, tears trailing down her face. She cried. Later that night, Damon talked to Matt.

"We're setting up another safe house. You can lay low until this all blows over," said Damon.

"You think it's ever gonna blow over?"

"It has to." Meanwhile, Emma walked up to Ric.

"I don't know what happened, Em," he said. "I told her to stop. She wouldn't stop. The gun just went off."

"Hey. She knew what she was doing. You got that? She knew."

"Yeah." Emma hugged him.


	19. Glass to the Arson

"It was supposed to look like a robbery, but it wasn't about the money," said Damon, walking into the house as Emma finished her yoga session. Ric was sitting on the couch, eating breakfast. "It was about this." He handed Ric a tablet with specifications on it.

"What is it?"

"Helium 3 replicator. It was designed and built in a government lab in Pennsylvania. It's an advanced array that generates and synthesizes helium 3."

"Synthesizes it? It's one of the rarest isotopes on the planet. No one's been able to make it."

"As far as the public knows. This is a black budget project. According to Senator Lockwood, this represents the future of clean energy. Trillion dollar industry."

"You got this intel from Carol's office?" Emma asked.

"Her committee was briefed by the FBI this morning. They were able to get a look at the shooter, but they got nothing from facial recog. Officially, she doesn't exist."

"Dina."

"It's bad enough Esther's in bed with The Collective. Now she's using Syndicate assets to steal top secret projects."

"And the FBI is clueless," Ric mumbled.

"That is why Carol called us. We've got to find Dina and get this back." Emma tried to hold back a laugh. "What?"

"It's just funny. You pacing back and forth. It's like déjà vu."

"Are you in?"

"Oh yeah. You had me at Esther."

In Passaic, New Jersey, Emma and Damon had tracked Dina to a junkyard.

"Now you know why I didn't grab her at her apartment," said Damon.

"She's definitely waiting for someone."

"Something's not right. She should be halfway to The Syndicate, not here." Emma's phone rang.

"Hey, Care. You've got me and Damon. What's up?"

"I think I figured out why Esther stole the helium 3 device. She and Mikael are gonna use it as a Hail Mary."

"How?"

"They came to me after I killed Kaminski. I wouldn't give them my shares so they're going to try and take over the whole company. Mikael's requested a meeting with the board. He's got some big announcement tomorrow."

"The future of clean energy. Mikael hands it over. The CEO job is his," said Damon. "He runs the Russian side."

"His girlfriend's got the state side."

"Match made in hell," said Caroline. Emma watched as Esther approached Dina.

"Care, we're gonna have to call you back."

"Let's go say hi, honey," Damon smirked.

"I got Esther." Just as they got out of the car, they saw Esther garroting Dina and pulling her behind a storage unit. Emma fired her gun, but drew the attention of Collective reinforcements.

"Collective."

"Gotta protect the prize," said Emma as they took cover.

"Go get it. I'll cover you."

Emma went around the back to Dina's car, but the device was gone. She walked around the storage container and saw Dina, dead. The helium 3 device was in a beat up red suburban. Esther surprised Emma by wrapping a wire around her wrists and punching her in the nose. She forced the gun out of Emma's hands and pushed her into the wall of a storage container. Emma kicked Esther and the witch grabbed a pipe. Unable to use her magic in such an exposed place, Esther was helpless to Emma's kicks and punches, but not to good old fashioned weaponry. She grabbed Dina's gun and shot Emma in the chest. Emma gasped as she fell against a car. However, Esther didn't make another move. She looked at Emma and was overcome by emotion. Hearing the Russians, she grabbed the helium 3 device and left with her back-up.

"Emma!" Damon called. He ran to her and untied her. "Come on. I got you."

The next day, Emma was cleaning her gun in Moscow. Damon walked in.

"What happened back there? Why didn't Esther finish you off?" Damon asked.

"She choked."

"The Esther I know would see that as a flaw."

"Yes, a flaw she would quickly want to fix."

"You'll be ready."

"Okay, kiddies. Show and tell time," said Ric. The two walked into the living room. "So we got almost no reliable intel on the inside of HQ, but what we do have is our very own insider."

"Before I left for Russia, I tapped all the files The Syndicate had on this place," said Caroline. "There are three zones that we need to focus on. Up top, executive levels. That's where Mikael's office is. All surveillance signals are routed through here so no one comes in or out without Mikael seeing it. Now the lobby level. This is where the conference room is for the big board meeting. If they stick to past protocol, this is where the shareholders reception will also be held, in this area."

"That's smart. Everyone has to go in and out through the same point of entry," said Damon.

"Which brings us to the tech level, underground. Mostly R & D labs, but they also house containment vaults for the more sensitive projects."

"What's my approach?" Emma asked.

"Olga Kucherova," said Ric. "_Masher_ Top 100. Currently on a photo shoot in Costa Rica."

"Cool. Let's go rob some Russians."

Later that night, Emma parked a blue Murcielago outside and walked into the lobby of the Russian corporation.

"Olga Kucherova," she told the man at the front desk.

"I'm sorry. Board members and shareholders only."

"I'm guest of Leonid. He wants me here," Emma replied in a Russian accent.

"Emma, I'm keyframing this digital mask in real time which means there's a slight video lag so no sudden moves," said Ric on her com. The man called security and Mikael granted her access from upstairs, seeing only the real face of Olga Kucherova.

"You can go." A man took her coat and she entered the lobby.

"I'm in. Nice." As Emma walked through the party, she passed Caroline who surreptitiously handed her a key card to the elevators.

"Found something on Collective security node," said Ric. "Looks like Mikael installed a little peep show camera in the board room." Emma reached a computer inside the labs.

"Accessing building blueprints now."

"We're in," said Ric to Damon. "We got eyes on the whole tech level."

"Nice work, Emmy. Head south down the main corridor. You should run into a clean room that has a hazardous materials vault."

"Found the vault."

"Okay. Whoa. That room's full of military-grade explosives. Probably not the best idea to blow up the vault."

"Important safety tip. 12-key alphanumeric keypad. Let's do this old school." She blew eye shadow onto the pad. "All right. I've got a two, a four, a five, a seven, and a nine."

"Okay five digits. That's 120 combinations if there's no repeats in the string. If there are, we're talking over 3,000 combinations," said Ric.

"Thanks, nerd. Wind beneath my wings." After a few combinations, the vault opened. Emma grabbed the case. "Confirming package. Package confirmed."

"Ric, what's that?" said Damon, noticing something on Ric's screen.

"Oh, crap. That's a level one Hazmat alarm."

"Emma, you just triggered a Hazmat alarm. Get out of there now." Emma tried to leave the room, but Collective agents arrived. She closed the clean room door as they fired into the ballistics glass.

"Nice dress," said Esther. "You fit in well with all the bought and sold flesh upstairs."

"It got me in here and look what I have. Let me go or I destroy it." Esther pressed a button on the outside of the clean room.

"The extraction system is removing all the air from that room. In less than fifteen minutes, you'll be immobilized. Vampires still need to breath, you know. I can wait."

"What the hell happened? You said you owned their security!" Damon yelled at Ric.

"I do. Just not the emergency system. It jacks directly to the Moscow fire department. When Emma opened the containment door, the outer door must not have been air-locked. What are you doing?"

"As soon as you get my signal, you call Moscow Fire direct. Do your best crazy Russian scientist. Tell them there's a breach and they need to get down there now."

"Nice idea, but it's not going to work. Mikael's boys will just send the teams back."

"Don't worry about Mikael. Emma, can you hear me? I'm coming to get you."

"You really going to do this?" Esther asked Emma. "For what? The undying gratitude of Carol Lockwood?"

"Pink slips for you and Mikael. That is why you're doing this, right? Love?"

"What about Damon? Are you prepared to leave him all alone?"

"You should've shot me."

"What are you doing here, Emma? I didn't kill Tatia. I didn't kill Matt."

"Oh, I'm so grateful," Emma scoffed.

"You should be on your knees. I saved your life. When I found you in the work camp, you were nothing. Broken by the system. I remade you. And what did you do to repay me? You broke my heart."

"You think you gave me some kind of gift? You lied! You took me from one hellhole and put me in another. I was a witch when I was human and when you were trying to master the dark, I taught you how. And then you turned me into this. You dressed me up all pretty for them and you served me up to them. To men who weren't my husband. I broke your heart? You broke mine."

"So what happens now?"

"I guess I die and you lose."

At Caroline's mansion, Ric received a communication request from Jenna.

"Oh. Hey. Hi. You alone in there?"

"For the moment."

"All right. Me too. Though I'm kind of on the clock."

"I have to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Esther. She left in a hurry yesterday. She wouldn't say where she was going and now she's gone completely off the grid. None of us are really sure we can trust her anymore."

"Glad to see someone's finally growing a brain over there. Not that you don't have wonderful brains."

"I just remember you warning me about Esther."

"I'll be blunt. Right now, Jenna's in Moscow selling out you and everybody else at The Syndicate to the Russians."

"The Collective."

"You don't have to take my word for it. Take hers. I'm sending you a file that deserves to go viral."

"You wouldn't even need to sacrifice your own men. My operatives are fully expendable," said Esther.

Meanwhile, Damon was communicating to Mikael.

"Hazmat's on the way, Care. Keep Mikael in the room."

"Ridiculous," said Caroline. "What are we waiting for? We can't let this man run our company."

"That's not for you to decide, Karolina. You're not even supposed to be in here," said Mikael.

"That's right. I'm supposed to be dead. Who do you think planned the murder of my family when I was a little girl?"

"Mr. Chairman, I can't allow this."

"She's a Fedorov. Let her speak."

"Mikael and Kaminski thought they had the perfect plan. Except I survived. They tried to kill me again in New York, tried to make it look like an overdose. But I survived that too." The phone rang. "Is there another problem? Do you need to get that?"

"There are no problems, Karolina, apart from the ones you imagine."

"Let's talk about your imagination, Mikael. This security guard says he's going to save my father's company by making an alliance with the Americans. The Americans? We are Russians. We don't need anyone to save us. My father used to say if you can't face the wolves, don't go into the forest. This man would get eaten alive in the forest. He's not a wolf. He's a dog."

Meanwhile, in the clean room, Esther had breeched the door, believing Emma was unconscious. When a guard approached Emma, she snapped his neck and threw a small bomb outside the room. She detonated it and drew her gun on Esther.

"You want to know the difference between me and you? You see a moment of weakness and I see a moment of strength." She pistol-whipped Esther and took the helium 3 device to Damon who was waiting in a hallway. An alarm then blared.

"If I'm not mistaken, the research level's been breached," Caroline chuckled. "Secure our future? He can't even secure the building."

"I think it might be time for The Collective to find new leadership as well as this company. You're fired, Mikael." In the chaos, Emma and Damon walked out the front door in Hazmat suits with the helium 3 device.

The next day, Emma was watching as waves crashed in the distance at the safe house. Damon sat down next to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"We won, remember? They lost."

"For a second there, I didn't think I could do it. I guess I can still surprise myself. I know it surprised Esther."

"What are you talking about?"

"I let her live," Emma replied as she rested her head on Damon's shoulder.


	20. Dialysis

Out on the beach, Emma and Caroline were running. Emma picked up speed and beat Caroline.

"I didn't realize you were going for the medal round," Caroline panted when they stopped.

"Well, I don't want you to settle for the silver."

"No way. Gold all the way."

"Speaking of, you've got a lot of it. What are you going to do now that you've cashed out your share of the Fedorov fortune?"

"I don't know. It doesn't even seem real."

"It is. Real enough to buy you a life somewhere else."

"What am I gonna do? Just sit on a beach and sip drinks from a coconut? I can't do that. I've seen too much. It's like I told my mother. There are people out there who have to be stopped and I want to be a part of that fight. Just like you. I mean, the bigger question is what are you gonna do?"

"Well, the deal with Senator Lockwood was that we stop The Syndicate and we get our presidential pardon. We've done our part. Esther and Mikael are on the run, Silas is in the wind, so now it's up to her."

"And then what? You and Damon going to trade in your cloaks and daggers for barbecue aprons? Head toward the nearest white picket fence?"

Meanwhile, Ric and Damon were sparring in the house.

"That is what you guys want, right?" Ric asked. "A life where you're not evading hit men, dodging the odd predator drone?"

"That was the plan." Damon launched several hits, but Ric blocked them.

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't know."

"It's like you guys need some kind of life and death crisis just to make it work."

"It seems like when it comes to our future, Emma and I are in some kind of holding pattern." Damon grabbed Ric in a chokehold and threw him to the floor. "I didn't wanna push it."

"Damn you and your vampire speed," said Ric as his computer beeped. Emma and Caroline entered the house in that moment. "Looks like it's one of Senator Lockwood's lines. Welcome to the show, caller, you're on the air."

"It's me," said Tyler. "A black market arms contractor passed along word of a weapons request from a domestic covert group. CIA says it's not them, which means…"

"The Syndicate," said Emma.

"The Syndicate doing business without Esther?" Caroline asked.

"It matches up with some recent chatter about a string of weapons caches being emptied in Europe and Asia," said Tyler. "According to my mother, these caches were set up by The Syndicate, but not by Esther. Dates back before her time."

"Silas," said Damon.

"Silas back at The Syndicate? How?" Caroline asked.

"Must have got in while Esther was gone," said Emma. "Staged a coup."

"Must have found evidence of her double dealing," Damon added.

"I did send Jenna that video of Esther selling out The Syndicate at the board meeting," said Ric. Emma sighed. "What? I thought it was gonna help bring Esther down. How was I supposed to know Lex Luthor was in the building?"

"I'm not taking any chances. I'm taking my mother to a safe house," said Tyler. "Who knows how far Silas will go to kill the last member of Oversight." Suddenly, a man on a motorcycle passed by Carol's car and placed a mine on top of the car. Within seconds, the car exploded with Carol inside.

"What the hell was that?" Damon asked. Ric pulled up satellite imaging and they saw the car on fire.

"Tyler? Tyler, are you there?" Caroline asked.

"My mother is dead."

"Tyler."

"This was Silas."

"We don't know that, okay? We still need…"

"This was Silas and I'm going to find him now!"

"Keep him calm, all right," said Emma to Caroline as she handed her a Bluetooth. "He's not thinking straight and we need more information."

"Emma, there's a traffic cam near Dupont Circle." The motorcyclist took off his helmet and stared at the camera.

"Connor," Emma growled.

"Who?" Damon asked.

"He was a Syndicate target I took down a few years ago. He was an arms dealer who had a significant amount of plutonium. I brought him in, but they never found the plutonium. Silas handed him over to the CIA and they took over the search."

"They never recovered it either," said Ric on his tablet. "They've been torturing him for the information at a black site in Norway for the last five years. He broke out last week, killing three agents in the process. Looks like he had outside help too."

"Who?" Caroline asked.

"There's only one person who could have told Connor my connection to Carol."

"But why is Silas working with this freak?"

"The plutonium. Connor's gonna give Silas the plutonium."

"Damn. Silas is going nuclear," said Ric. A few minutes later, Tyler arrived at the safe house.

"Tyler, I'm so sorry," said Caroline.

"Tell me what you know about the man who killed my mother."

"His name's Connor Jordan," said Emma. "He's an arms dealer I took down for The Syndicate. He wants payback. He's giving Silas nuclear arms to get it."

"So he killed her to get to you. Collateral damage."

"Yes. I was the target."

"What's his next move?"

"If I were Connor, I would stake out the funeral. See if I was there, if I wasn't…"

"He'll start looking for someone else he can use," Ric finished.

"Like you," said Damon. "You won't be safe if you go."

"If you think there's any way I'm not going to my mother's funeral…"

"It's too dangerous," said Caroline.

"No."

"He might try to–"

"No. I'm not going to let this guy control my life. I wanna be there and then I'm gonna hunt this bastard down and make him wish he was never born."

"I think you should go," said Emma.

"Whoa, you sure that's a good idea?" Damon asked.

"Connor's looking for me and that's not a problem. Because I'm looking for him. I'm going to enjoy eating him."

The next day, the funeral of Carol Lockwood was held.

"Emmy, you guys got anything?" Ric asked over the com.

"Nothing yet. We're a mile outside the funeral. Everything from this perimeter looks clear."

"I don't remember the Jordan mission," said Damon.

"You were overseas on assignment."

"You didn't say anything after."

"There wasn't much to say."

"Hey, I got a vehicle just inside the south gate," said Ric. "Untraceable license and mystery VIN say Syndicate cover van. So predictable. Wait a minute. I also have an unmarked vehicle due east of there. Could be Jordan."

"If they're following Syndicate protocol, they'll have a couple of backup units on the way," said Damon.

"We take them out Jordan won't have alpha team support. We can isolate him. I'll take the car."

"No, no. I'll take the car. You take the agent in the van. Should be a standard two man squad." When Emma walked up to the van from the side, she noticed the Division agent was unresponsive from the window. His throat was slit.

"Something's wrong. The driver's dead." Suddenly, Jordan jumped off the roof of the van and knocked Emma out with a sharp kick to the face. He dumped Emma in the van, removed her ear bud, and took off in the van.

"Expand the search grid!" Damon yelled when he arrived at the safe house.

"I'm on it."

"She said the agent in that van had been killed. This wasn't Syndicate."

"It was Jordan," said Tyler.

"Scan all of Metro Baltimore."

"I already have. It's coming up empty."

"Do it again!"

"Damon, we're gonna find her, okay," said Caroline.

"The trail's already gone cold. We have to figure out where he would take her," said Tyler.

"What do we know about his behavior? His habits?" Caroline asked.

"I got something. It's not much," said Ric. "The report on Jordan's escape says three agents were killed, but there was one survivor. A prisoner named Ted Masterson. He spent a lot of time with Jordan. Maybe he knows something."

"Where is he now?" Damon asked.

"Federal holding facility in Virginia, but he's scheduled to be transferred to a military prison today."

"It's slim," said Tyler.

"Yeah, but it's all we got," Damon replied. Later, Ric hacked the GPS of the military transport, changing the route.

"In a quarter mile, please turn right to our waiting grab team," said Ric. Caroline was standing in the middle of the road. She cocked a shotgun and shot the transport's tires. The men came out of the car, their weapons drawn. Tyler and Damon were behind them.

"Drop it!" Tyler yelled.

"Don't," Damon added. They took their weapons and Damon opened the van. "Let's go, Masterson. What can you tell us about Connor Jordan?"

"Jordan? What about him?"

"He ever talk about places he'd go if he got out?" Tyler asked.

"No."

"Any places he'd like to see?"

"No."

"Relatives? Girlfriends?"

"Sorry, I missed gym class that day." Damon hit him.

"He has my girl and I get very cranky when my girl is with psychotic prisoners who want her dead. Now spill before I rip your throat out."

"He didn't say anything. He never said anything. I did all the talking. He would just sit and listen."

"What did you talk about?" Tyler asked.

"Stupid stuff. Movies, girls, family."

"His family?" Damon asked.

"No, my family. Got a kick out of hearing how messed up they are. My dad's boozing, sister's drugs. He enjoyed that crap. The sick bastard laughed his ass off when they foreclosed on my mom's house." Tyler put him back in the van.

Inside Jordan's house of horrors, Emma screamed as electricity shot through the contraption she was chained to. Jordan turned off the electricity and Emma fell unconscious. Jordan woke her up with smelling salts. She gasped awake.

"Don't tell me that's all you got? I was expecting so much more," said Connor. "Remember the first time I saw you? The club in Sao Paulo. You were wearing that purple dress and you had too many mojitos? You were beautiful. Stay with me. You know what helps? You pick a point in your mind and you focus on it. Something that'll help keep you going. What kept me going was the thought of seeing you suffer, of hearing you scream and beg for your life. You kept me alive."

"The woman you knew was not me. I was under orders. I was forced to work for an agency that made me do terrible things."

"Must have been hard."

"It's the truth! I hated what they made me do."

"Then why didn't you get out?"

"I couldn't."

"You could have killed yourself. That would have been a way out. See, that's just it. You didn't really wanna get out. You just don't admit it. But I know you. Intimately. And I'm not talking about the sex. We shared something much more primal. I saw behind your lies and caught a glimpse of your true self. The woman who scarred me…that's who you are. You enjoyed it. That's the real Emmalyne!"

"Just kill me and get it over with! I've lived long enough."

"No. I'm not gonna kill you for a very long time. I suffered for five long years. You think I'd cheat you out of one second of that? So just relax. You're in for the long haul." He electrocuted her again.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as he cut off the electricity.

"What did you say?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't take out your other eye. And if I'd known you'd be talking me to death, I would have cut out your tongue too. So turn it up. Last one tickled a little."

"You are gonna beg me for death."

"Like you did with the CIA? What's the matter? They hurt the poor little psychopath?" He punched her hard and she coughed up blood. She laughed. "I'm gonna tell you something I never told anyone. I regretted most of my missions for The Syndicate, but not all. Not yours. You're right. I enjoyed hurting you."

"Bitch!"

"What's wrong? You wanted to get real. Let's do it. The person who beat you in that room is someone I pretend isn't there. Someone I lock deep, deep down inside and never show the people I love because if they knew the truth, they'd hate me. But here, in this hole, we can be honest, right? So come on. You and I can spend all of eternity down here hurting each other. We deserve it."

Meanwhile at the beach house, Ric's computer beeped as Damon paced.

"Got a signal bumping up against the firewall on a proxy," said Ric. "Oh no. She ain't doing this again." Jenna came onto the screen. "I got a bone to pick with you."

"I have a message."

"Oh God, Silas, can't you just die already?"

"Ric, I don't have time to talk to the children."

"Where's Emma?" Damon asked.

"How badly do you want to find her?"

"I'm not in the mood for games, Silas! Where is she!"

"You know where she is. She's with Jordan."

"What does he want?"

"He wants what all of us want. To be heard. And it seems he's having a hard time getting through to your wife. So he's going to need someone to help her listen."

"Just get to the point."

"If you want Emma, really want her, it's going to require a sacrifice. You're gonna have to sacrifice yourself, Damon. You get the point now?" A few minutes later, Damon was loading his gun.

"Damon, this is crazy," said Ric.

"Just give me the pill."

"All right. It's an ingestible tracker. It's the same thing we used on Carol. Swallow it immediately after you clear any tracking countermeasures. It's activated by stomach acid. It'll come online in half an hour."

"Right."

"Lot can happen in half an hour, Damon."

"And we're out of options."

Later, Damon arrived at a warehouse. He saw a glass of water and a camera. Connor was watching. He drank the water and fell to the floor unconscious. A few hours later, Connor tossed Damon down the stairs of the basement Emma was being held in.

"No," Emma whispered.

"Surprise, surprise. Let's see if I can hurt you now." He tied Damon to a chair and left the room.

"Damon. Damon? Are you hurt?" Emma asked as he woke up.

"No."

"The others? Were they with you when he attacked?"

"No, there wasn't an attack."

"What do you mean? How did Connor capture you?"

"He didn't capture me. I came on my own. I gave myself up. It was the only way I could find you."

"You son of a bitch."

"What?"

"You dumb, stupid son of a bitch."

"Emma."

"The situation was contained. The damage was limited and now what! You just gave Connor everything he wanted."

"You were in danger."

"I was lost. I am lost. Damon. You just sacrificed yourself for a dead woman."

"No. You are not dead. We can still…"

"Shut up. Just shut up. Shut up. You just had to give yourself up to this psycho like you're some kind of martyr."

"You think I can't be selfish? This is the most selfish thing I've ever done. I did this because I had to see you one last time even if I was killed. I did this because I love you."

"Don't do that, don't do that," Emma cried.

"I don't have a choice."

"You have no idea who I am. If you did, you could never love me."

"No, no. I know exactly who you are."

"I have evil inside of me, Damon."

"Maybe you do. Maybe that is a part of you. That is all that it is. A part! It is not all of you and it is all of you that I love. You could go down to the deepest, darkest parts of your soul and I would still love you."

"We're gonna die."

"Then we die. Together." Connor came down the stairs.

"You're awake. Good." He punched Damon.

"No!" Emma screamed.

"That's more like it."

Emma's iron chain broke and she banged Connor's head against the gate she was fastened to. She removed the other pins holding her legs in place and flipped the gate over, knocking Connor in the jaw. She punched Connor again and Damon tripped him. Emma hissed and punched him multiple times before launching her fangs into his neck. He pushed her off him and grabbed her in a chokehold. Tyler then arrived and shot him multiple times. Emma rushed to Damon. Connor was still breathing when Tyler towered over him. He shot Connor in the head. Caroline removed Damon's restraints and he hugged Emma as she cried.

The next day, Emma walked up to Damon who was cleaning his gun.

"Damon, I need to talk to you. About some of the things I said."

"It's okay. You don't have to."

"I didn't mean it."

"Yes, you did."

"I said some unforgiveable things."

"Yeah. But you had to. I know it's not because you don't love me. It's because you don't love yourself. And that's okay." He cupped her cheeks. "I'm willing to teach you." They kissed.

"I can see our future again. It's been a long time. It's clear." Damon smiled and hugged her. Later that day, Emma called Silas.

"I want you to know your plan failed. I'm still alive. But you did succeed in one respect. You brought Damon and I closer together so thank you for sending him."

"You got it wrong, Emma. I didn't free Connor to get to you. His vengeance was never my plan."

"Right. You wanted the plutonium. I don't know what you have planned for it, Silas. Doesn't matter. I'll find out and I'll stop you. I always do."

"Why do we keep doing this? This endless cycle of mutual destruction?"

"I know one way to end it."

"Change is in the air. It's a new age here at The Syndicate."

"New song, same dance."

"Let me make a little proposal. You give up your crusade against me and I'll do the same for you. You and Damon can go live life without having to look over your shoulder. Sound good?"

"I have a different plan."

"Really?"

"You know, Silas, you once told me there are monsters out there. And you were right. There are. That's why I'm coming for you."


	21. Hating Hollywood

"If this whole saving the world from evil masterminds doesn't work out, I think we have a real future in armed robbery," said Emma as they walked down the street from a bank they data robbed in Zurich.

"Does that mean we can rob a bank with actual money next time?" Damon asked as Emma hooked her arm in his.

"Oh, you can be Robin Hood. I'll take the money and give it to the poor."

"For the record, I'm never wearing tights."

"Then I'm not doing it."

"Fine. I'll wear tights." Emma laughed.

"Let's head to the airport. We'll meet Caroline there." She called Ric. "Found the account holder yet?"

"Yeah, turns out the shady international dude who manages Silas' money has a shady international name. Ian Damascus."

The next morning, Damon, Caroline, and Emma arrived at their safe house.

"Are we sure he has Silas' money?" Damon asked.

"Well, he owns that Swiss account we traced. Same account numbers as the transfer Caroline made for Silas."

"You mean the one that helped Silas break out of The Syndicate."

"That was yesterday. Today we bankrupt Silas," said Emma. "Put The Syndicate out of business, put an end to this war once and for all."

"But the question is how do we rob Damascus?" Damon asked. "He's in a gated compound and he doesn't leave often."

"He doesn't need to go out. We go in. Pretend to be wealthy criminals, potential new clients. I've already made the calls."

"Do we need references or something?" Caroline asked.

"Damascus only cares about one thing. If you can meet his minimum, he'll sit down with you."

"What's his minimum?" Damon asked.

"$20 million."

"$20 million just to sit down," Ric choked. "This guy's nuts. Anyway, where the hell are we gonna get our hands on…" He noticed Emma was smiling at him. "Emma, you're scaring me. Why are you looking at me like that? No. No! No to the power of no."

"Ric, come on. Haven't you always wanted to bankroll a revolution?"

"$20 million? I'm hallucinating here. Who spiked my drink?"

"Ric, it's our best shot."

"Let's move to our second best shot then. Armed helicopters, rappelling down skyscrapers, a small army of flesh-eating robots. Whatever scenario doesn't involve risking my money."

"Look, we know it's a lot," said Damon.

"It is all! I give you twenty million, we're searching the couch cushions to pay for ammo."

"Don't think of it as giving to us," said Emma. "It's more like a loan."

"No, no. I'm sorry but the Bank of Ric is closed for business. Look this isn't just dollars and cents, okay? This is my safety net. My escape hatch. It's my life's work. Hell, it is my life. Do you not see that?"

"Yeah, you really love your money," said Caroline.

"Yes. A hell of a lot more than I'm liking any of you right now. Anyway, what about you little miss oligarch. Why can't you break off twenty mil?"

"It's gonna take a few days at least."

"That's not the point, okay? Damascus is willing to meet us tomorrow. If we postpone, he'll start asking questions. Get suspicious."

"Is there any way we can fake the money?" Damon asked.

"A guy like Damascus will see that coming," Ric sighed.

"It's only two hours. When Damascus dumps the money, we get into his system, we find Silas' account, we empty it," said Emma.

"I won't do it."

"You'll get your money back and Silas'."

"Unless I go along on the mission."

"Like in the van?" Damon asked.

"No, not like in the van. Damascus is gonna be expecting a wealthy investor. I will play that wealthy investor. I already am the wealthy investor around here."

"Ric, the last time we went on a mission, you were broken. You barely made it back. I don't want you to get hurt again," said Emma.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. As long as I have eyes on my money, I'll know it's safe. If you guys want to dangle around my twenty million like it's bait, I'm gonna be the one holding the rod."

Later, Ric and Emma arrived at Damascus' estate.

"Morning. Ian Damascus. Good to meet you." He shook Ric's hand.

"Morris Mitnick. Nice place you got here. It's cozy. Real cute."

"Well, I make do. Did you bring the funds, Mr. Mitnick?"

"Call me Morris. I hand you twenty mil, you become my new best friend, right?"

"Let's hope so." Ric handed him the case. "And who might you be? Girlfriend? Wife?"

"I'm the muscle," said Emma. Damascus opened Ric's briefcase.

"Ah. Bearer bonds. Lovely."

"So how exactly is this going to work? You walk into a bank with just one of those, likely to raise a few eyebrows," said Ric. "It's like wearing a big sign around your neck that says, 'hello, I'm a criminal.'"

"Well, my associates deal with specialized securities like this all the time. And they don't report to the IRS or the authorities."

"Good. I spent years stealing that money from the government. Be a shame just to hand it right back to them. How long to convert the funds?"

"Five minutes or so. I scan and your funds appear electronically in your new account."

"Scan away."

Meanwhile, Damon was sitting with Caroline in the car.

"So you and Tyler have gotten close."

"Why are you asking me about boys? It's usually Emma who's the one prying into my personal life. She asked you to spy for her."

"Oh, come on. We are spies."

"Well, when you report back to Emma, you can let her know there is nothing going on with Tyler and I." She looked away.

"But? I promise to leave it out of the report."

"I look at what you guys have and…I don't know. I don't know if I'll ever be able to find that. Not even sure it's worth it."

"Hey. It's worth it." Damon then noticed a black car pull up. "Emma, there's a car pulling up front. You've got company."

"Damascus made the transfer. Have you found Silas' account yet?"

"I can't get in. There's no signal coming from the house," said Caroline. Ric worked on Damascus' computer.

"He wasn't online. Now he is."

"I'm in. But I can't find Ric's money. Or anyone else's."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"There's no money in any of these accounts. It's empty."

"That son of a bitch."

Outside, they heard gunshots. Emma took out the guard while Damon and Caroline exited their car.

"Syndicate's on site. Emma, where are you?" Damon asked. "Emma, I'm out front." Caroline and Damon took out the remaining guards while The Syndicate escaped. "Emma!"

"She's hit," Ric replied.

Later, the four returned to the house. Damon pulled out the bullet in Emma's arm and licked the blood away, sealing the wound. She stroked his face.

"There's nothing here!" Ric yelled. "Not even us. The Syndicate must have wiped it clean."

"Well, it was definitely Shane behind the wheel. I'm not sure who the woman was."

"Damascus was giving the briefcases to his courier so it must have been her," said Emma.

"Maybe that's not all he gave her. He withdrew fifty million from his other accounts."

"Yeah, but why did Silas take out his money now?" Caroline asked.

"Maybe because his underworld banker was running a Ponzi scheme," said Ric. "Who knew?"

"Or he's worried that someone like us might get ahold of his funds," said Damon. "If they're online, they're vulnerable."

"He's shoring up his defenses," said Emma.

"And moving his money into the most secure vault he knows."

"The Syndicate," Caroline realized.

"So Silas is stuffing his mattress with my money."

"He's not stuffing anything, okay? Damacus wanted us to get bearer bonds because they're small and they're portable, but like you said, they're illegal in the United States."

"So if he wants to use the money he has to convert it all into cash," said Caroline.

"That's right. And that's good because we take cash."

"70 million doesn't just fit into an easy to steal briefcase or three," said Damon. "We're talking about a truck here."

"If we find it, we hijack it," said Emma. "If we can't steal it, then we destroy it."

"Whoa. Destroy? We're not just talking about Silas' money here, okay?" Ric interrupted. "We're talking about my money."

"I know, but we have to focus on the big picture."

"What bigger picture?"

"Taking down The Syndicate."

"What, you mean our recurring game of whac-a-mole. Knock down Silas, up pops Esther. Take out Esther, Silas' back on top. It's never gonna end and we're broke!"

"We will think of something."

"You mean the way we figured out it was a good idea to risk all my money on one mission?"

"Hey, things happen out in the field that we cannot anticipate."

"Maybe you should have tried to anticipate a little harder!"

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you come with me."

"Let me? You let me come with you? What, are you my boss now? I didn't realize you were in control around here."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Damon. "Everybody's getting a little hot here. Maybe we should take a step back."

"Guys, we don't need to fight about money. Let's focus. I have money," said Caroline. "I can bankroll us for now."

"What about later when we finally reach those mythical post-war days Emma's always talking about. What am I supposed to do then, go temp in an IT department somewhere?"

"It wasn't your money! You stole it!" Emma yelled. "If you're so worried about your future, go steal some more!"

"That sounds like a great idea! You go do whatever you wanna do. I'm gonna go recoup my losses my way. Good luck, Care. You're going to need it." Emma rolled her eyes. Ric then left.

"Anything on Shane's car?" Damon asked Caroline as she typed on the computer.

"Nothing yet." He walked over to Emma who was working on her own computer.

"You know this would go a lot faster if we had help."

"Look, Ric needs time to cool off and honestly so do I."

"What happened at the house when you got shot?"

"I don't know. I got trapped and he grabbed a gun. And then…nothing. He went all deer-in-the-headlights on me."

"I guess Ric's not used to firing on people. The only time he shot at someone was…Abby."

"Damn it," Emma sighed.

"Got him!" Caroline yelled. "Running it through facial recognition."

"Veronica White, currency dealer," said Emma.

"Veronica's company hired a truck. She's delivering a big shipment this afternoon," said Damon.

"There's at least four different roads we can take, but we can't possibly stake them all out," said Caroline.

"Then we go after the truck leaving Veronica's building," said Emma. "When we know which road they're taking…"

"We can get ahead of it," Damon finished as the computer beeped.

"Uh oh," said Emma.

"What?" Damon asked.

"Suffolk Country police department just ran Ric's prints though their system after they arrested him. We have to get him."

"Let's talk about this."

"We got an alert so did The Syndicate. Ric designed both systems. It means that Silas' gonna know where he is, Damon, and he'll go and grab him."

"Look, we're closer to where Ric's being held than The Syndicate, okay? So we have a moment to plan. Let's talk. Let's make a plan."

"Okay. Okay. When Ric entered The Syndicate, they erased his old identity, right?"

"Standard protocol."

"That means the cops have no idea who they have in custody. All they know is to hold him until the FBI gets there."

"We can use that."

"I hate to be the one to ask, but what about Silas and Ric's money?" Caroline asked. "This might be our only chance and we're running out of time."

"I don't know if we have time for that now," Damon replied.

"Caroline's right. Truck's our last shot. You two go and stop it."

"You going after Ric?"

"I'm bringing him home."

Later, Emma posed as an FBI agent at the police station. Ric was shocked to see her.

"What are you doing here?" Ric asked when the deputy left.

"Saving your ass so I can kick it later."

"What about Silas' money?"

"You're more important than Silas' money. Now hurry up and get your stuff." They both headed out of the holding room.

"Sorry about this. First you get shot, now you gotta wear that suit."

"The bullet I can handle. The suit and the blouse we'll have to talk about later." Syndicate agents spotted them and they ran. As Emma fought with one the agents, Ric grabbed a gun and shot him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Come on. Let's go." Later they contacted Damon from the car. "I've got Ric. Where are you?"

"Silas is running a shell game. He hired three trucks. We stopped one of them, but it was empty," said Damon.

"Where were you when the trucks split up and how long ago?" Ric asked.

"41st and 6th. 15 minutes ago," said Caroline.

"Okay, if we look at the distance from the bumper to the ground and cross our fingers no one forgot to check their tire pressure. I got one truck riding low. It just got off the parkway. Heading south on Old Mill Road."

"Even if you stop it you won't be able to offload it before The Syndicate gets there," said Emma.

"Damnit. Silas is gonna get his money. The Syndicate stays in business."

"Not if you destroy it," said Ric.

"Did he just say…" Caroline trailed off.

"Em's right, there's no time to grab the cash so we burn it."

"Ric, are you sure? It's not just Silas' money. It's your money too," said Emma.

"I'm taking some good advice and looking at the big picture. In the big picture, Silas can't win. Just do it before I change my mind. Truck's almost to your position. You've got two minutes before The Syndicate crashes the party."

Damon fired on the truck and it stopped, the driver escaping. He then launched an RPG at the truck, destroying all the money inside.

"I'd like to report an accident," said Damon over the coms.

"The most expensive single vehicle accident in history," Caroline added.

"Sounds great. See you back at the house," Emma replied. "You okay?"

"I got you shot before when I froze. I keep going over it in my head. You know, I had the gun in my hand. I knew I had to shoot, but I looked at him and all I kept seeing in my head was…"

"Abby. The first time you kill someone it stays with you for a long, long time. I really wish you would have talked to me about it."

"Seemed a little insensitive. 'Hey, Emmy, you mind if I cry on your shoulder about the time I killed that person you loved so much?'"

"I know. But we gotta talk. Otherwise people get shot or arrested. Okay?"

"Okay."

The next morning, Emma and Ric were sitting in the living room, watching the sunrise.

"Not sure if I said this, but thanks for coming to my rescue back there," said Ric. "After what I said…"

"We had a fight. Doesn't mean I'm gonna throw you to the wolves. You weren't wrong. You did lose all your money."

"Yeah, well, I probably shouldn't have blamed you for that. By the time I saw what Damascus was doing, it was too late. I'm a little mad at myself for that."

"You couldn't have known that."

"How do you think I made my money?" Ric scoffed. "I mean I used a keyboard, but it's the same idea. Trick some arrogant rich guy with a fake log-in screen. Looks secure so he lets his guard down and gives you everything you need to take his money out the back door."

"Whoa. Courtesy of Shadowwalker."

"Yeah. Yeah, he was pretty good. I remember this one headline. 'Who is Shadowwalker?' Had a silhouette and a question mark. Had a bounty on my head and everything. The Syndicate erased all that. That money, it was the last remaining evidence that I used to be something more than some computer geek."

"You are more than some computer geek, with or without the money. You know, when I'm out there risking my life, you are my lifeline. You're the voice in my ear, telling bad jokes and getting me out safely. You are irreplaceable and one of a kind. And that's a good thing because I've been around awhile and I don't think the world could take two of you." They both laughed. Caroline and Damon then walked in with grocery bags.

"Hey, Shadowwalker," said Damon.

"Food for the human. Blood for the vampires."

"Hey, you been messing around with my computer?" Ric asked Caroline. "What is that font anyway, Papyrus? It's a crime against nature and my eyeballs."

"Yeah, well maybe this will make up for it." She handed him an envelope. He pulled out a check for a million dollars. "I know it's nowhere near how much you lost, but it was the best I could do on short notice. Besides, you'll be able to double that in no time, right?"

"Bless your heart. You sure you wanna give this to me? I mean, I handed our last bankroll over to a con man."

"Damascus conned Silas and half of Interpol's most wanted list," said Damon. "I think you're in good company."

"Well, we are gonna have to double this. The way Emmy blows through money, it's like her greatest talent in life." Emma, from her chair, watched her friends, her family.


	22. Jackie Come Lately

In Berlin, Germany, Damon stood by an indoor pool as dozens of girls enjoyed the cool water when a Korean man approached him.

"Mr. Walsh, apologies for the delay. I trust my people have made you feel at home?"

"Oh, they've been great. This is quite a place you've got here."

"It's just a rental. You should see my property in Bora Bora. Sits right on Matira Beach, but you didn't travel halfway around the world to talk about real estate."

"Well, don't ask me. Ask her. She's the buyer," said Damon, nodding to Emma who had just exited the pool.

"Ileohan jjalb-eun, ilban saljjagkung e ulileul suyong jusyeoseo gamsahabnida. _(Thank you for accommodating us on such short notice, General Koong)_," Emma spoke in flawless Korean.

"Nae nala-eseo dwie naui jemog-eul tteonassda hajiman yeui leul jusyeoseo gamsahabnida. teughi jasin gwa gat-eun aleumdaun gat-eun keullaieonteu eseo. _(I left my title behind in my country but I appreciate the courtesy. Especially from a client as beautiful as yourself.)_ Now where's the cash?"

"I travel light these days. That's why e-banking is a god-send." He noticed her gold earrings. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Meanwhile, Matt was explaining the operation to Ric from the safe house.

"Relax, Ric. We've got this. Our friend the ex-general is dying to unload this merchandise. According to my research, Koong took off in the middle of the night with his own little collection of nuclear accessories. He didn't want to be around in the morning when all the non-proliferation heat dawned on North Korea. Black market's the only revenue stream he has."

"Dude, I never knew 'facts' could be a superpower before you. By the time Koong realizes the funds weren't transferred, we'll be long gone. I set up the bogus BHO account in the Caymans with three million."

"The triggers were forged with plutonium, hence their name, plutonium pits. Combine that with the fissible material Silas has and you have the makings of a sizable nuclear weapon."

"You really think Silas is gonna build the bomb?"

Back in Germany, Emma had agreed to the deal and Koong's driver was bringing the triggers to his home.

"These triggers are radioactive and volatile so they should each be housed in their own individual, lead-lined cases," said Matt to Caroline over her com.

"You sure you're up for this?" Caroline asked Tyler.

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

"After everything you've been through?"

"Hey, you miss your mom too."

"It's different. One day I'm gonna see her again."

"I know. Sitting around grieving's not gonna help. Beating Silas' ass will. That's what we're here for, right?"

"We get these triggers off the market, The Syndicate's gonna have one hell of a time trying to find more of 'em." Caroline and Tyler walked to the van containing the triggers. "Can we take a peek? Buyer wants to make sure her order's right." Koong's guards opened the cases. The triggers were there.

"Let's back up the car," said Tyler. Suddenly, automatic gunfire resounded. Caroline and Tyler took cover.

"Emma, abort! Syndicate's here for the triggers!" Caroline yelled through her com. Emma and Damon took out Koong and his men and fled his house while Tyler and Caroline shot at the Syndicate.

"I think we can make it to the van." Using the cars in Koong's driveway as cover, Tyler and Caroline ran toward the van. Tyler was then hit.

"Tyler!" Caroline grabbed her scarf and held it to Tyler's wound. An agent then saw Damon. He shot at him, but Damon dodged it.

"Hey, Damon! You miss The Syndicate!" the agent yelled. Damon shot another agent.

"Not that time!" he replied. The agent, outgunned, left with the triggers. "We've got to move."

Later at the safe house, Emma was setting Tyler up on an IV after removing the bullet in his side. Caroline walked over.

"Bullet's out. Now all he needs to do is recover," said Emma. "But he's gonna need somebody to watch over him."

"Yeah. I'll do it. As long as it takes." Emma walked toward Damon who was unloading their weapons.

"So…debrief?" Matt asked.

"Not much to talk about. We lost, Silas won, and now he's got a nuclear bomb," Emma sighed.

"Not yet. He's got plutonium and the triggers to detonate it, but he still needs missile casings."

"Okay, well first place he would look is some countries that decommissioned some nukes," said Damon. "They'd have to have a few casings lying around."

"Then what are we waiting for? Come on, Matt. Pinpoint it, we'll swoop in."

"Emma, piecing together that intel on Koong and those triggers took almost a month. We are out of time. If you want me to crack this, I need viable intel and lots of it. I need the CIA."

"We can't hack the CIA. Ric tried."

"I wasn't talking about hacking. The Company has an entire wing dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation. I am talking about hundreds of analysts."

"No."

"With a world-wide network."

"No! The last time we approached the CIA, two agents were shot, I got blamed for it, and you ended up in federal prison. Matt, no!"

"That was Bill Abbott's tenure. There's a new person in charge now, someone I know personally. John Gilbert. We can trust him." Emma's eyes widened in realization.

"Gilbert."

"Director of Intelligence. He took over after Abbott was forced to step down. What?" Damon asked.

"I know him. I met him at a party. I was Silas' date. Gilbert didn't want to be there."

"He just had a pacemaker put in. Of course he looked shaky," Matt scoffed.

"No, it wasn't like that. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be seen with Silas."

"Emma, I worked with John through two administrations. He's a good man. He's a patriot and we need his help."

"I still think he's bent."

"But did you see anything specific?" Damon asked.

"Like his secret decoder ring? No."

"Seriously? Don't be so childish."

"I'm being serious. The guy wanted to get out of there."

"And that makes him dirty?"

"I know what I saw, Damon."

"And I know the man. So does Silas which makes sense because they overlapped at the Agency," said Matt. "It doesn't prove anything."

"Well, sometimes you don't need proof if you have instinct, right?" She turned to Damon.

"Look, we've never been on the clock like this before. If we fail to stop Silas, he gets a bomb."

"And you think I don't know that? That is why we don't take a risk like this. If we go to Gilbert, we could land in jail. We're not doing it. End of discussion."

"Emma, you've never been good at listening to me so don't expect me to either. We will use caution, but we are going to follow through on this."

"The difference being I would never make a mistake this stupid and jeopardize everything we've built."

"I'm doing whatever it takes to stop Silas." He turned to Matt. "I'll get the car started."

Later at a restaurant, Matt and Damon had tracked John down and were standing at the bar, observing him.

"Are you sure he'll go to the men's room?" Damon asked.

"Positive. Guy's a founding member of the clean hands club. Any time we ordered in, he'd practically check under our fingernails to make sure we were germ-free." They both took a drink of their scotch.

"Hypochondriac?"

"Think it made him good at his job." John left for the restroom. "Here we go." Matt followed him. A woman then walked up to the bar.

"Hey, sailor. Buy a girl a drink?" Emma asked.

"You're the last person I expected to see here."

"I know," she sighed.

"And you don't need to explain. I know you don't trust the government, but if you can't trust Gilbert, then please…trust me. We're doing the right thing here."

"That guy over there, two o'clock, oozing bodyguard. My guess is he's with Gilbert." The guard grew more impatient and rose from his chair. "Never let it be said that I'm not a team player." She approached the man. "George? George Feretti?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kyle, this is the dirtbag I was just telling you about," Emma replied, turning to Damon. "Where do you get off? Were you ever gonna call my sister back or is that not something you do?"

"Ma'am, you have me confused for someone else."

"Oh, ma'am. Now I'm ma'am. Now you're polite because it's not Saturday night and you're not having to show up to something?"

"She's talking about someone else. I promise you," said the guard to Damon.

"I'm talking about you, George 'Forgetti.' Jerk. Excuse me!" She walked past John. The guard looked at Damon.

"You should call people back, dude," Damon replied, trying to hold back a laugh. Half an hour later, Emma, Damon, and Matt arrived back at the beach house.

"How was lunch with Mr. CIA?" Ric asked.

"I think I got through to him," said Matt.

"I know I did," Emma replied. She typed a few keys on Ric's computer and activated a bug she placed on John.

"You bugged John!" Matt yelled.

"I never said I changed my mind." They listened in as John called Silas.

"Son of a bitch," Matt cursed.

"Don't think of it as losing an ally. Think of it as gaining a new target."

"It doesn't make any sense. When I got busted down to the basement, John was the only one trying to help me get back upstairs."

"Maybe he kept you close to monitor your investigation," said Damon.

"Speak of the devil," said Ric as his computer beeped with an incoming communication from the phone Matt gave John.

"Act normal. See what he says," said Emma.

"Hello?"

"It's Gilbert. I've been thinking about your proposition. I want to help."

"Sir, you're doing the right thing."

"I've put the access codes for Winpac onto a flash drive. You'll be able to patch into the network from anywhere. Meet me at Royce Square Park. 1600 hours and bring your partner with you. I'd like to finally meet this Emma face-to-face."

"She's eager to meet you too, sir. Thank you for making this all happen."

"You're making it happen, Donovan. I still think about Black Sands. If it wasn't for your instincts on that op, things really would've gone sideways." He ended the call.

"It's an ambush," said Damon.

"Not if we take him down first," Emma added.

"Take him down?" Matt asked. "We're talking about the director of the CIA."

"Who, in Silas' hands, is more dangerous than a single suitcase nuke. For all we know, John is part of Silas' bigger plan."

"It also means he's too hot to grab," said Damon. "We wouldn't get half a mile before there's agents on our tail."

"Grabbing him is not the plan. John won't bring the CIA to the park. The Syndicate will be there. If John goes down and there are armed men at the scene…"

"Who's to say they weren't responsible for the hit," Damon finished.

"Wait. You're not gonna…"

"Matt, this is war and John's picked his side. We played your way. Now we play mine."

Later at the park, Emma set up her sniper rifle.

"I should've listened to you about John," said Damon. "But it doesn't change the fact that we still need to find someone in the government we can trust."

"There is no one to trust. I thought you would have learned that from the Cleansing."

"What about Senator Lockwood?"

"She was corrupt as hell. The only reason she helped us was because The Syndicate turned on her. We were the enemy of her enemy."

"It doesn't mean everyone in the government is our enemy. If you don't count Carol, what about Matt?"

"Matt got screwed over by the system. When we were first exposed, I tried to make a deal with the US government to ensure our safety. They agreed and then that night they raided our house. Pulled us out of our beds and burned down everything we had. And I'm gonna save their sorry human asses anyway."

"Target is sector B."

"Range 310 meters."

Meanwhile, Matt was doing some research at the beach house.

"Hey, Ric, could you play back the tail end of that phone call with John?" Ric activated the audio.

"I still think about Black Sands. If it wasn't for your instincts on that op, things really would've gone sideways."

"Black Sands. November, '04."

"What went down?" Ric asked.

"We had an asset deep undercover in Colombia. He was feeding us intel on FARC rebels. They took his wife hostage, forcing him to become a double agent. I was the only one who figured out he was…under duress. You don't think it's like Silas to put a gun to somebody's head?"

"Does John have any family?"

"Widower. No kids."

"Maybe Silas has got a picture of him at a furries party or something. I don't know."

"The guy's a hypochondriac, remember?"

"So was Howard Hughes and that dude was a freak. All right. He's gotta have some vice. You telling me this guy is completely without addiction?"

"He said he was addicted to exercise. Took morning runs around Langley."

"Marathon man. Here's something. 'Gilbert came in third in his age group only months after getting a pacemaker.'"

"Heart surgery."

"Okay. Hang on. There was some distortion on the phone call. I thought it was just a compression artifact, but…" Ric snapped his fingers when he localized a sound. "That is the mating call of a Syndicate kill chip normally implanted in the brain stem."

"They couldn't get to his brain, so they got to his heart," said Matt as he pulled out his phone and called Emma. "Let's hope Emma hasn't put a bullet in either one yet."

"Hello?" Damon answered. "Yeah, I'm looking right at him. Hold your fire, Em."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"John has a kill chip near his heart and guess who put it there? This just became a rescue mission."

"Are you sure it's a kill chip and not a tracker?"

"Signature's hard to miss. I've had to calibrate a lot of those things," said Ric.

"Can't you hack it?" Damon asked.

"Not from here."

"Well, we have a netbook. Can we link you in that way?"

"The netbook's not encrypted."

"Ric."

"How are you going to hook it up to the guy anyway? Last time I checked people don't have USB ports."

"We have a medical kit. Portable EKG and de-fib. They are both USB," said Damon.

"Could work. Huge risk. Syndicate finds out you're helping this guy out, Silas pushes a button. It's die time."

"You can't block the signal?" Matt asked.

"Not unless he's underground." A few minutes later, Damon walked up to John, a hood covering the side of his face.

"Mr. Gilbert, this is Damon. I'm friends with Matt. We know about the kill chip."

"Hope you have a plan, son."

"I'm five times your age, boy. Don't call me son. I'm gonna move to the west exit of the park. I want you to wait ten seconds and then follow." Damon then noticed Syndicate agents running down the street. Damon took John. "Move. Now." Damon took him down into the subway tunnels. "The chip can't be triggered down here."

"So Matt told you everything. I figured my message was a long shot."

"It got heard," said Emma.

"This looks clear. Why don't you set up shop here? I'll go cover us." Damon left.

"Ric, I'm up. Can you find me on the local wireless? I'm on the city metro network."

"Gotcha. Let's build a bridge."

"I'm gonna need you to open your shirt."

"What is all this?"

"We have to hack your heart."

"Unbelievable."

"It shouldn't be long now," said Emma as she placed an electrode on his chest. "Ric's got to lock on to your pacemaker, okay?"

"I remember you, you know. From that party. You came in on Silas' arm. You're hard to forget. But I could sense something else going on that night."

"I was his prisoner."

"You and me both. It's hard to believe, you know? You're part of a powerful institution. You figure somehow it makes you safe, but it doesn't."

"So you don't trust government, either?"

"I trust in it. I just recognize its limitations. What the president did to you vampires was wrong. Us, humans. We're afraid of what we don't understand. If I don't make it, do me a favor. Shoot that son of a bitch Silas for the two of us, will you?"

"Welcome to the club. Nerd, what's going on?"

"Bad times. The kill chip's wired into the pacemaker. They're running off the same battery."

"So you can't short one without affecting the other?"

"Only way to break the link is to reboot the system. Gilbert's heart's gonna have to beat on its own for about sixty seconds."

"You have to take my pacemaker offline, don't you?" John asked. "Do it."

In a hallway, Damon shot at Syndicate agents, downing two of them and leaving only Will, an old friend of Damon's.

"How about we settle this like vampires, huh?" Will asked, dropping his gun. Damon did the same.

"We don't have to do this."

"Then don't. Just die." Will kicked him into a locker, but Damon blocked his punches and kicks. "You always used to say we were doing good at The Syndicate."

"I lied. Needed you all to believe it so I could take them down."

"No. You just got whipped. I hope that ass was worth it." Losing his temper, Damon extracted Will's heart.

"I thought I taught you manners, boy," Damon replied before casually throwing Will's heart away. When Damon returned to Emma, he saw her sighing in relief.

"Ric did it. Assuming de-killified means what I think it means."

That night, Ric was working on his computer when the alarm went off.

"No friggin' way. This can't be happening."

"What's wrong?" Matt asked.

"Someone breached the security perimeter I set up around the house."

"What do you mean someone?" Caroline asked.

"Multiple someones actually. The Syndicate. Okay, cowboy up, people! We gotta be ready for these mothers."

"This place is a shooting gallery," said Matt.

"What else are we supposed to do? Take our chances and run?"

"No, we're not running anywhere. Not with Tyler. Come on. I've got to stash you somewhere."

"I'm with Ric. I think we should stay. Toss me something, would you?" Ric handed him a rifle.

"See? SEAL Team Six knows what's up. We've got to hit them with all the firepower we've got."

"You're right," said Caroline. When The Syndicate breached the house, it was empty except for a bomb. Caroline triggered it from the car, blowing up the agents.

"You're buying the next house," said Ric.

"Deal," Caroline agreed.

"We can lay low at my safe house until then," said Matt. "Good thinking, Care."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Care, can I talk to you for a second?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, are you okay?"

"Maybe it's time for another shot."

"I didn't bring any…" He kissed her.

"Maybe we should call up Emma," said Matt to Ric.

"Shh. Dude, don't spoil the moment," Ric interrupted.

The next morning, Emma and Damon arrived at Matt's safe house, hearing the news of their beach house.

"Every weapon, every piece of tech, everything we had was in that house," said Emma.

"Not everything," said Damon, seeing Ric setting up his computers.

"I know, I just feel like every time we get a win on Silas, he gets two on us."

"That's gonna change," said Matt.

"Turns out I have quite the to-do list now that Silas is off my back," said John. "Priority one is gonna be ferreting out any more moles he may have in the Agency, and I'm assuming you still need access to our intelligence networks?" Emma nodded and he handed her a USB drive. "As promised."

"You brought this with you to the meet? That's pretty risky."

"I always wanted to help. I just needed someone to help me first." A few minutes later, Emma approached Matt.

"Go ahead. Say it," she said.

"Not my style," Matt chuckled.

"All right then. I'll say it. You told me so. My instinct was to take John out. It appears that my default setting is attack."

"That is the correct setting for a kick-ass vampire queen warrior."

"Matt, I'm serious. You were smart. You used your head. I was…"

"Using your heart. Which got you further than anyone else in this fight."

"Is this cool? All of staying here for now?"

"You're the one who set me up here."

"Your house, your rules."

"No. Our house, our rules." He walked away and Damon came up to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Do you remember when it was just you and me, working out of a motel room?"

"Yes."

"We'll probably need our own operations soon. We can put up big monitors, we can…"

"Whatever you do, please don't call it Operations."

"Logistics?"

"Something homier."

"Homequarters?"

"Okay," Emma smiled before leaning her head into his shoulder.


	23. War

With a gasp, Emma woke up from bed, sweat trailing down her face. She tried to take her mind of her Silas-infested nightmare as she ran her hand through her hair.

"It's okay," Damon grumbled as Emma began to slide off the bed. "I'm awake."

"Good morning." She gave him a quick kiss and moved toward the edge of the bed when Damon pulled her back in for a deeper kiss. "We should get going."

"I don't have to be anywhere." Emma fell back on the mattress.

"I can't get him out of my head, Damon."

"Silas. I never thought he'd come between you and me, at least not here."

"He's this close to getting a nuclear weapon and everything goes quiet."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"The storm's coming."

Meanwhile, Matt was talking to Alaric in the living room.

"Impressive, but weird," said Ric.

"It's not weird," Matt replied.

"It's not normal."

"You're the judge of what's normal?"

"It's voodoo, man."

"What is?" Emma asked walking into the room in only Damon's shirt.

"Good morning," Ric cleared his throat. "Donovan here is the data whisperer."

"I figured Silas is going to need engineering help with his nuclear plans, so I'm trolling through the CIA data John gave us to see where he might find it, and I happen to notice that three former aerospace guys from the 60s all died from natural causes in the last two weeks."

"What's weird about that?" Emma asked.

"Well, an expert swimmer drowns in his pool, then a guy with no coronary problems has a heart attack, and the last one dies from anaphylactic shock. But he never had any allergies."

"Anaphylactic shock was a Syndicate staple," said Damon, walking into the room. "We used that all the time. Can't exactly explain to the people why there are bite marks on a body."

"Just for giggles, Johnny Mnemonic here has me run a check," said Ric. "Turns out all three of these guys were posted at Maxwell Air Force Station back in the mid-80s. Like I said, voodoo. They were working on a classified satellite project called Crossbow along with two other guys. Mizuyama and Henderson, both of whom are still alive as far as I can tell."

"What would Silas want with a satellite?" Damon asked.

"Communication, intelligence, navigation…"

"Navigation. Damn it," Damon groaned.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Early ballistic missiles used navigation satellites for targeting. If Silas was able to hijack one, then…"

"He could use it to guide a missile," Matt realized. "He's already got enough plutonium for a warhead."

"Get Caroline and Tyler over here," said Emma before she turned to the bedroom to change clothes.

"I gotta call Director Gilbert," Matt added.

A few minutes later, the whole team had arrived and Matt had been notified of an attack on Maxwell Air Force Station.

"Here's the security tape from Maxwell Air Force Station," said Ric.

"Robbie," said Caroline, seeing the agent gun a guard down.

"Who's Robbie?" Tyler asked.

"He's a recruit who snapped. He went on a shooting spree inside The Syndicate," Damon answered.

"We were told he'd been cancelled," Caroline added.

"Fake death special," Emma retorted.

"You got enough to run a facial recog?" Damon asked.

"Sure," Ric replied.

"You know I get why Silas wants to hijack satellites but why kill retired engineers?" Tyler asked.

"What we do know is they want him dead which means we want him alive," said Damon.

"Silas is making his move. We gotta get ahead of him, guys," Emma added.

"Any luck finding the other two?" Damon asked.

"Nothing on Mizuyama. But ol' Henderson…feds keep track of guys who used to have top-secret clearance. Last entry's sixteen years ago. Says he's off the grid."

"Dropped out of society?" Matt asked.

"Colloquially, yeah. Literally, off the electrical grid. No bills from the power company."

"So how do we track him?" Tyler asked.

"Propane," Emma replied.

"Propane," Ric agreed. "Power source of choice for the off-grider. And you can't get a big tank without making a deposit, so…sometimes I even amaze myself. Got my own magic, voodoo man. Donald Henderson recently purchased two tanks of propane near an abandoned shipyard in Philly."

"So he's still alive," Emma replied.

"Maybe," Ric added before his computer chirped. "Or maybe not. Shadownet just coughed out a hit on Robbie. Security cam has him boosting a motorcycle in a back alley."

"Ric, if he's after Henderson, we're too late. Can you warn him?" Emma asked.

"False alarm. Robbie's not heading to the shipyard. In fact, he's not even in Philadelphia. He's in…upstate New York. Adirondacks, Route 86 headed north."

"That's away from The Syndicate," said Damon, puzzled. "Where the hell's he going?"

"Let me take him," Caroline asked.

"Okay," Emma nodded. "Tyler, go with her. Find Robbie. Damon, we'll go after Henderson." A few hours later, they arrived at the shipyard in Philly. A man came out of his trailer. "Dr. Henderson?"

"You're from the government, aren't you?"

"No," Damon answered.

"See. That's what you always do." He pulled a gun.

"Whoa," Emma interjected.

"You lie, you lie about who you are."

"We just want to talk to you."

"Yeah? That's the way it always starts. Next thing you know, you got electrodes attached to your privates."

"Tell us about Project Crossbow," said Damon.

"If you're not from the government, how do you know about Crossbow?"

"Look, we don't have a lot of time," said Emma.

"Too bad. Cause I got nothing to say. It's over. It's finished. I moved on. I suggest you do the same."

"If you won't talk to us, tell us how we can reach Keith Mizuyama," said Damon.

"He's in danger and so are you," Emma added. "We need to reach him."

"He's dead. Ten years ago, cancer got him."

"What's Robbie doing in the Adirondacks?" Damon asked Emma.

"Who the hell's Robbie?" Henderson asked.

"He's the guy who stole the control boards," said Emma.

"Somebody's after Crossbow? You're not telling me those fools actually got it online?"

"What do you mean got it online?" Damon asked. "The satellite's already in orbit."

"I know. I put it there. Oh man. I knew they'd find a way to make it work. Nothing gets in the way of our military boys. No, sir. Especially not scientists. It's my fault. Look at me. I thought I could save mankind? What did I do? I gave it a way to commit suicide."

"How is this your fault? What does Crossbow do?" Emma asked.

"You have no idea, do you?" Before Henderson could elaborate further, a Syndicate team arrived on the scene. Henderson ran as Emma and Damon fired on the agents. Damon hit a propane tank, blowing up the Syndicate vampires. Emma went to track down Henderson, but found him lying on the ground, bleeding from the head. He was dead.

"Now what?" Damon asked. They walked into Henderson's trailer.

"It's no fun living alone for this long. Lots of meals spent by yourself," said Emma as she opened the refrigerator. "It's not cold." She then found a tape hidden in a microwave dinner carton. It was titled Project Crossbow. "Ric, we found something. Bringing it back. You got a way to play Betamax?"

When they returned to the safe house, Ric had set up a Betamax tape player.

"Where did you dig up that thing?" Damon asked.

"Found it in a box next to my parachute pants," Ric joked.

"Let's hope he didn't tape a ball game over it." The tape began.

"Hello, I am Dr. Donald Henderson, lead scientist of Project Crossbow which is the key component of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defensive Initiative. SDI's mission: to shield the nation from a Soviet nuclear strike. Crossbow will be a series of military satellites equipped with particle beam weapons. Once in orbit, these satellites will target and destroy incoming Soviet missiles." Ric ended the tape, rolling his eyes.

"Guess there's a reason they called it Star Wars," Damon joked.

"Star Wars? This thing worked about as well as _The Phantom Menace_," said Ric. "It's a missile defense system that couldn't hit any missiles. That's why they pulled the plug before it even got off the ground."

"Then why does Silas want it? What does he know that we don't know?" Emma asked.

"Before he died, Henderson was so freaked out that he thought they'd gotten Crossbow online. Maybe they did."

"What if Silas' satellite isn't meant to guide missiles? What if the satellite is the weapon?"

"Ric, I thought you said this thing couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

"Well, it couldn't hit a moving target, but it might be able to hit a fixed object on the ground."

"It can reach the earth?" Emma asked.

"If this thing had enough juice, yeah. You're talking about a lightning bolt that melts through anything in its path."

"How do we stop it?"

"You could ask the scientist who built it to find a weakness, only they're all dead," said Damon.

"So if Silas got rid of all the guys who could disarm it, then…"

"He basically has control of his own personal Death Star," Ric finished.

"Where's Matt?"

"In Washington, briefing Gilbert."

"Get him on the phone. We need to bring one of the higher-ups into this. We can't stop this on our own."

"What makes you think Gilbert can?" Damon asked.

"I had someone else in mind. The President."

While Matt briefed the President, Emma received a call from Caroline. Robbie had placed something inside a reactor before being shot.

"He flipped a switch on this thing? What does it do?" Emma asked.

"Nothing as far as I can tell, but he thought it was worth dying for."

"Could be anything. Transmitter, beacon, the Golden Snitch," said Ric.

"Ric, pull me up a satellite view of the Adirondack reactor. What would the military use to target long range weapons?"

"GPS, mostly," Damon answered.

"No, I mean like in the 80s."

"Well, they'd get a spotter close enough to paint the target with some sort of homing beacon to…transmit coordinates."

"The facility just had a big power spike," said Ric.

"I don't see a laser."

"The beam's invisible, but it's heating up the reactor like gas on a fire. It's going critical."

"Caroline, get out of there." Thankfully, Caroline and Tyler had escaped the explosion just in time. Meanwhile, Emma was on the phone with Matt.

"I only have a few moments. The President's about to address the nation. Any word from Caroline and Tyler?"

"They're safe. They got out. Stayed upwind from the blast. They should be back soon. What is the President going to say?"

"What can he say? 'My fellow Americans, we're screwed?' If the truth of this comes out, it could shatter people's faith in the government."

"Maybe that's what Silas wants."

"I don't know. Chaos is bad for business. Deep down, Silas is all about his own self-interests."

"Matt, then why hasn't he revealed his endgame?"

"I have to go." He hung up. A few minutes later, Caroline arrived at the safe house just when Matt called Emma back to brief her about the rapidly escalating situation.

"It's as bad as we thought," said Caroline.

"I'd say it's worse," Damon added. "Not only does Silas have one of the deadliest weapons ever created, he's using it to blackmail the President into committing political suicide."

"President's got to have something up his sleeve," said Tyler. "The Air Force could try to shoot a missile at it or SEALs could do a ground assault."

"It's too risky. If Silas gets word of an attack, he'll trigger the weapon immediately."

"Crossbow could get another shot off before a missile hits it. Let's face it. Silas won. We're probably next," said Ric.

"No, we're not. He is," Emma replied.

"Emma, I get that, but what do we do?" Caroline asked.

"We take away his trump card. The satellite he controls from The Syndicate."

"You think I haven't thought of that?" Ric scoffed. "This is ancient tech. It's all about the motherboards, not the software. You can't hack it."

"I'm not talking about hacking it." Damon caught her train of thought.

"No. Emma, no! Absolutely not!"

"We're going into The Syndicate."

"Are you kidding? We can't go at that place," said Ric.

"Why not?" Emma asked.

"Because it's suicide," Damon replied.

"So is the alternative. I've been running from The Syndicate for five years, running and running and running while Silas gets stronger. I am not running anymore! I don't want to go in there, Damon. I have to. This ends today."

"Emmy, you have flirted with the crazy before, but this is flat-out starkers!" Ric yelled.

"I'm not talking about knocking on the front door, genius. I'm talking about a surgical strike."

"Alright, let's approach this tactically," Damon mediated. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

"Horrible, gruesome death," Ric answered. "First, we would have to disable the Crossbow control boards, break in, fight our way through teeming hoards of psycho killers, and make our way down to the server room which is on the ninth sub-level AKA The Basement of Hell."

"If we take the abandoned silo all the way down, we pass the main levels," said Emma. "Think about it. We go in through the exhaust vent. It'd lead straight to the server room."

"The hatch was removed when Emma escaped from The Syndicate," said Caroline.

"No, it wasn't removed," Damon revealed. "It was sealed. By me. We welded it shut with steel brackets. We can rip it off easy."

"Okay, but let's not forget that to even get to the hatch, we have to get past The Farm which is manned by two full-time sentries and don't let their civilian cover fool you. Ma and Pa Kent are still Syndicate agents," Ric argued.

"Tyler and I can handle them," said Caroline.

"You can't kill them," Ric warned. "If they die, their trackers go offline. Somebody in Ops notices that…horrible, gruesome death."

"Then we go non-lethal," said Tyler.

"All right. Ric, you quarterback. Tyler and Caroline, you get us in. Damon and I will infiltrate. We get down to the server room. We plant a charge that can be remotely detonated. When we ex-fil, we blow the charge."

"Em, I hope this isn't the last time we see each other."

"Thanks for reminding me, nerd. I'm the one whose ass is on the line."

"I know." Ric went to his computer.

"It's crazy, right?" Emma asked Damon.

"It's definitely a Hail Mary, but I think we can pull it off."

"Damon, I don't want to do the thing where I'm deciding for everybody."

"You're not. We all know what we're getting into."

"If this goes wrong…my worst nightmare is dying in that hellhole without you."

"That's never gonna happen. You can't get rid of me that easily." He kissed her hand. Later, Caroline and Tyler had incapacitated the sentries while Emma and Damon went to a corn field to locate the silo. After rooting around in the dead corn stalks, they found the exhaust vent. Using vampire strength, Damon pulled off the hatch.

"Home sweet home," said Emma as she looked down into the dark abyss. "Wait a minute."

"Crap," Damon growled.

"What is it?" Ric asked over the com.

"Ladder's gone and I can't jump that far without hurting myself," Emma replied.

"Esther must have taken it out when she retrofitted the place for Silas' cell."

"We're going to have to do this the hard way."

"There's nothing here to anchor the rope," said Damon.

"That's why you're going to lower me down."

"What? Splitting up wasn't part of the plan."

"You got a better idea? At most, there'll be two techs in the server room. I get down, plant the charge, I'm back up before you know it."

"Fine. I'll go."

"You're too heavy for me to lower. Not that I'm dissing your girlish figure."

"The first sign of trouble, you get the hell out of there." She nodded. "You scare the crap out of me, but I love you anyway."

"I love you anyway too." They kissed before Damon anchored the rope to lower her down to an iron platform. She then snuck into the vent that led to the server room.

"I'm in," Emma whispered.

"Thank the maker," Ric sighed.

"Tech support is down."

"Okay, the communications server is the middle column."

"Which panel?"

"The one with all the blinking lights."

"Thanks. That helps me a lot." They were all blinking.

"You're gonna have to feel around for it. Find the one that pops open."

"Got it." She planted the charges just as alarms went off. They knew.

"Emma, you've got to get out of there," said Damon.

"I just need a minute."

"You don't have a minute. Get out now. Emma, do you here me?"

"Almost there." Emma hid behind a tower after finishing her work while guards came in.

"Emma, you are burned."

"Not yet," she whispered.

"Alright, I'm coming down." He pounded a bolt into the ground to anchor his rope and slid down to the platform.

"We're onsite. The techs have been neutralized," said a guard to Ops as Emma escaped to another hallway without the guards noticing.

"Damon, blow the charge."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. If I blow this now, they'll be swarming all over the place. You'll be trapped."

"They're about to find it. It's our only shot. Blow it."

"No."

"Blow the charge!" Damon detonated it and the server exploded.

"Emma? Emma!"


	24. You're Going Down

"Damon, Crossbow's down. Silas' satellite is disabled. Damon?" All Damon heard on the radio was static.

"Ric, copy back," he said from the vent. He jumped down from the vent just as he heard Silas on the intercom.

"The Syndicate has been breached. Weapons restrictions have been lifted. You may arm yourselves at will. The king and queen have returned. They are in the facility. Find them, kill them, and you will be rewarded." After taking down a guard, Damon heard Emma on a guard's walkie.

"Damon, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he replied, grabbing the radio. "We're on the party line."

"Awesome. Hi, Syndicate. It's great to be back. I've missed you."

"We can't update Ric until we get up top. I need to get you out of here. Where do you want to meet?"

"The only place in The Syndicate we ever had any fun."

"Copy that."

A few minutes later, Damon met Emma at the shooting range.

"You sure this is the only place we ever had fun?" Damon asked.

"Sounds like we're about to have some more." They geared up with Syndicate weapons and left the room. Finally, Emma and Damon reached a level where they could communicate with Tyler and Caroline. The two old vampires were surprised to learn that the Marines had arrived on The Farm. "I'm almost up top. What are the jarheads doing?"

"There are four man units, taking positions along the perimeter," Tyler replied. "They're making the cordon. It's usually followed by a raid."

"They don't know us from the real targets. Sit tight," Damon ordered. Emma then called Matt.

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh, Matt, we'd be so much better without a couple hundred Marines waiting for us."

"I tried to call them off, but the President really wants Silas' head. Especially now that Crossbow's down."

"Well, starting a war won't help," Damon replied. "Tell the President we've got a plan to hijack the com system and get a message to everybody inside."

"If they find out the truth about Silas, they'll hand him over."

"Hang on. Call coming in." Emma and Damon listened in to the conversation.

"That's why I didn't vote for you. You don't know how to solve the problem that's right in front of you. As far as my satellite weapon being dead, it was never alive in the first place."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Power, Mr. President. Real power. The kind that changes history. The kind that Cortez had over the Aztecs. They fell to their knees and gave up without a fight. Why? Because they believed he could turn off the sun. All he did was check the charts and saw an eclipse was coming."

"You're saying there was never any satellite?"

"Oh, it's up there. Took some trouble to get control of it too. I even re-tacked the trajectory just to seal the deal. But the particle beam…that was always fiction. Brilliant science fiction. They never got that to work."

"Then how did you blow the reactor?"

"Easy. Put a little plutonium inside a demon core, and the next thing you know, ka-boom. A cataclysmic reaction that you naturally took to be a laser beam from outer space."

"This whole thing's been a giant con," Emma realized.

"You, Mr. President, in your loincloth, and a bone in your nose, trembling with fear and awe at my feet as I turn off the sun. And I'm gonna do it again. The remaining plutonium is in the hands of my most trusted operative. He has orders to cause another meltdown, this time in a major metropolitan area, unless he's told to abort."

"What do you want?"

"To surrender. I've saved this country more times than you or anyone else will ever know. A warrior deserves a little respect, don't you think? I will walk out of here, Mr. President, maybe not a hero, but on my own terms…immunity and a retirement of my choosing. If my operative doesn't hear from me in the next thirty minutes, he will proceed as planned."

"What if I say no?"

"Don't say no." Matt walked outside to talk to Emma.

"His most trusted operative."

"It's gotta be Shane," said Caroline.

"Ric, do you have any idea how to find him?" Damon asked.

"Off the top of my head, no. Shane doesn't exactly smile for security cameras."

"What about his vehicle? He's probably using a Syndicate car," said Matt.

"Could work if I could get my hands on a vehicle manifest."

"Emma, we need to find Shane and get the plutonium out of the equation."

"I agree. Caroline and Tyler, you go after Shane."

"Got it."

"What about us?" Damon asked.

"We go after Silas. Take him out of the equation."

"I knew she was going to say that," Ric sighed.

"Unless we all think that he's gonna retire. It's just another play. He's probably got somebody waiting on the outside."

"Then it's settled," said Matt.

"Are you forgetting about the Marines?" Tyler asked.

"I can get you past the Marines. Ric, try and hack the vehicle manifest. Emma and Damon, good luck."

A few minutes later, Ric sent a video chat request to Jenna.

"Are you insane?" she whispered. "If Silas catches us, you're gonna get me killed."

"I know. Listen, I'm sorry, Jenna, but I'm really in a jam. I really need your help. Look, Silas is a bad guy. You know that, right? Just nod." She nodded. "I need to find Shane. It's important. If Silas strikes again and another reactor melts down, those Marines out there are gonna melt you down and everyone around you. I'm trying to save your life here. All you have to do is let me look at who checked out what vehicle today."

"All right, but no more."

"I could kiss you."

A few minutes later, Damon walked into the room after pulling a grenade pin, but not releasing the trigger.

"Freeze!" yelled a guard.

"Trust me. I'm not gonna move, but if you shoot me, things might get messy."

"You trained us for this, sir. We're fully prepared to shoot you and jump on that grenade."

"'In the event of a breach, the integrity of Operations must be maintained. If your actions threaten that, you regroup and form a new approach.' Apparently, I didn't train you well enough." Emma then knocked out one guard and put a gun to another.

"Where is Silas? I asked you all a question!"

"I don't know," said Jenna.

"Oh, you don't know. Office?"

"I can redirect security from here," Damon replied. "Clear you a path. Go. Emma, be careful."

"Speak for yourself, hon."

"Alright, people. Listen up. Most of you people know me, and you know I'm not the enemy. And neither are the Marines. What did Silas tell you they were here for?"

"To help catch you," said an analyst.

"They're here for Silas. Open your eyes."

"Jenna, she's on sublevel four," said another analyst.

"Alpha teams three and six, there's been a reported sighting on sublevel seven. Move out."

"Copy that."

"Emma, you're clear."

"Right outside his office."

"Override security." Silas shot at the door until he was out of ammo. Emma burst into the room firing while Silas hid behind his desk.

"You're empty." He raised his hands.

"Going upstairs to surrender to the law. That not good enough for you?"

"It's not good enough for you. You have a way out of this. I just don't know what it is yet. Where's Shane?"

"As we say in the trade, that's for me to know and you find out." Emma pushed him onto the desk.

"Where is he!"

"You can't kill me. Heart trigger. The second I die, Shane gets a signal. The meltdown begins."

"Then I'll torture it out of you. We got time."

"No, you don't. The search team will be here any minute. It's gonna take longer than that to kill me."

"Then we'll buy some time. You're gonna get on that intercom and you're gonna call off the boys or I take off your boys." She removed her knife.

"They won't believe me."

"Sure they will because you're gonna tell them something they've never heard before. The truth." Silas turned on the intercom.

"This is Silas. I'm sure you're all very curious to know what's been going on today. I started this organization not just to protect the country, but to save lives. Somewhere along the way, I lost direction. Started to view you as mercenaries. A means to an end. Little by little, The Syndicate became a criminal organization. Those Marines are out there to shut us down, bring it to an end. By morning, you'll all be dead or renditioned to a secret prison in some godforsaken place because of me. I betrayed you, each and every one of you. And I don't regret a minute of it. If anybody has a problem with that, come to my office, you useless pathetic vampires."

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, throwing the phone out of his hand.

"Throwing gas on the fire. They don't care what happens to me. Little army of Emmas. They don't care if I die. But you should."

"You bastard."

"This is your final mission, Emma. Stop the meltdown. Save the world. The only way to do that is to get me out of here alive." Silas restocked his gun. "Relax. I'm not going to shoot you. You're my bodyguard. I need you."

"Emma, the natives are getting restless. You've gotta move," Damon warned.

"So the National Mall Reactor," said Emma as they hid in a recruit room. "You never could resist cheap symbolism."

"Parting shot at the Prez. I'm afraid you'll never find Shane in there."

"Caroline and Tyler are tracking him right now."

"The princess and the SEAL? There's a circus act if ever there was one. It's too late, Emma. After tonight, no one will be able to touch me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm done with The Syndicate. I'm moving on. But you? You'll never be able to let go of this place." A few minutes later, they were on the move again.

"Ric, what's the update on Shane?"

"You'll never find him," said Silas.

"Shut up."

"Unfortunately, I think he's right. We got Caroline on site, but we're talking serious maze. Maybe Silas was lying about the NMR."

"He's lied about everything else."

"Hey," Silas retorted as they reached the elevator. A few minutes later, they were brought in front of the Marines.

"It's over, Silas," said Matt.

"You got what you wanted. Call off the meltdown," said the Vice-President.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye. One last thing, though." Silas punched Emma in the stomach. Emma kicked Silas' legs out from under him and as he held her hand she knocked him into the open silo hatch. "Help me up."

"I'm done helping you."

"If I die, Shane gets the signal."

"Ric, there's gonna be a signal from the Syndicate silo in about five seconds. Get ready to track it."

"Emma."

"Goodbye, Silas." She released him and he lost his grip. He fell down the silo into his glass prison, dead. Silas was gone…for good. Meanwhile, Caroline and Tyler had tracked Shane with Ric's help and pushed him into an electrical conduit, shocking him. Caroline removed his heart for good measure. Back at the Syndicate, Marines entered the complex.

"Don't do this. She's making a mistake, Matt. Tell her."

"This is no longer your mission," said the Vice-President.

"Listen to me. The Syndicate's back is up against the wall. They will fight to the death. If you pursue this course, I am telling you all you're doing is upping the body count on both sides."

"What course would you have me pursue?"

"Right now, they are in a command crisis. Their master is dead. They're looking for orders. Let me go down there."

"You? You're their enemy."

"I was their Queen. Vampires only respect what they've been made to fear. And they've been made to fear me."

A few minutes later, Emma walked out of the Syndicate elevator doors into. Lasers from rifles were trained on her.

"Now, that's not nice, boys. Come now. I just want to chat." They held back and she walked into Ops. "My fight was never with you. It was with Silas. You know this. I've spoken with the Vice-President. Told her that I could negotiate the peaceful surrender of all personnel. She believed me, but I think you all know better than that. Don't you? The second you put away your fangs, they'll gun you down. Because legally, The Syndicate doesn't exist. Vampires don't exist. Government doesn't want their little dirty secret out. That's gonna change today and they're just gonna have to deal with it." Damon put the pin back in his grenade. "You are not invisible. You exist and if they want to get to you, they're gonna have to go through me first."

A few minutes later, Matt walked into the main Division lobby. All of Division led by Emma and Damon were there.

"Let's talk," said Matt. They walked into Esther's old office.

"Immunity, identity, absolution."

"Never gonna happen. But I can promise no custody, no extreme rendition."

"Rendition? How do you think we got here? The government captured us out of our beds and never gave us a choice."

"The Oval Office is never gonna give everyone in this facility a golden parachute."

"The problem is a lot bigger than this facility," said Damon. "Syndicate agents all over the world have heard about this breach."

"They're not gonna come in from the cold, Matt. They'll go rogue."

"I know. That's why I told the Vice-President the ideal unit to control the fallout from The Syndicate is The Syndicate itself."

"Keep The Syndicate running?" Emma asked, shocked. This was definitely not her plan.

"Until we can clean up the mess it's made. There are still monsters out there. Who else but The Syndicate is going to stop them? I heard Silas tell the President he was just a messenger, probably for whoever is on the other side of his surrender. We need to find out who that person is."

"So The Syndicate is going to run itself," said Damon, skeptical.

"No. They want me to run it. I'm not gonna do it without you, Em."

"This isn't going to work," Damon sighed.

"It's the only way it works. Emma. Emma, you can trust me."

"This isn't what we've been fighting for," Damon replied as Emma looked out the window to see the other vampires. She remembered Abby. She understood now.

Early the next morning, Emma watched the sunrise as Damon came up behind her.

"The Syndicate is in good hands with Matt, Emma," he said. "We can go."

"Go where?"

"Anywhere. Home. Remember? You did say that."

"I said it. But I don't think I know what home is. I've never had one. All I know is…I love you. Silas stripped me of everything I was. Those people down there…they deserve a chance and you know we can give that to them. You think I'm crazy, right?"

"No. I think you're the Emma I've always loved." He kissed her.


	25. Perfectly Aligned

"88% confirmed match," said Jenna after finishing a facial recognition.

"Okay, guys," said Matt. "We are officially go! You get a hold of her yet?"

"Phone's at her apartment, but she's not answering," Jenna replied.

"Problem?" Damon asked, walking down the steps.

"Just got confirmation on our first rogue target. Intel is six hours old and I can't raise Emma. Think you can track her down?"

"I'll see what I can do," Damon smirked before leaving, knowing exactly where his wife was. She was attending a yoga class in Manhattan.

"We usually have tea after class," said a woman.

"Tea sounds lovely," Emma replied before Damon rolled up in his car.

"Emmalyne!" The girls turned and saw Damon. "We need you back at…the office. It's a minor emergency."

"Next time, ladies," Emma replied before entering the car and leaving.

"Damn. I wish I had her job," said one of the women. When Damon parked inside The Syndicate garage, Emma stayed in the car.

"Hmm. No. Still not used to being back here."

"I know the place looks the same, but it's a new Syndicate," said Damon as they both got out of the car. "Everything's changed."

"Damon, I was in the middle of pimping this ride, not pimping it out!" Ric yelled as Damon threw the keys to him. "Ask before thou takest."

"Almost everything," Damon quipped.

"You guys ready to go kick some super spy ass?" They went up the elevator into Ops and met with Matt.

"We've been actively searching for a month so someone was bound to poke their head out first. Martin here wins the prize," said Matt.

"Martin. I don't remember him," Emma replied.

"I do. Hong Kong, right?" Damon asked.

"Past six years. Cover was a fashion photographer."

"Deactivated his tracker on June 4th at 08:30," said Ric. "That's four hours after the 'Silas is dead, come on back to the ranch' e-mail."

"I told you they'd go rogue when they found out we took over The Syndicate," said Emma.

"And I told you we'd have to be the ones to bring 'em in," Matt replied.

"What is he up to now?" Damon asked.

"Davis Kellogg. Wine broker to the ultra-rich. 42, dies of a heart attack in Kowloon Park two days ago. No existing condition, but HK cops find no evidence of foul play except his son sees him talking to this guy on a park bench just before he died. Of course there's no follow-up because this guy doesn't exist."

"All right. Wait a minute. Flag on the play. Martin cuts out his tracker, goes dark for a month, and pops back up on the grid to whack a wine dealer?" Ric asked.

"My guess is that our latest victim was into more than the latest Bordeaux. I think he was Company."

"How do you figure?" Damon asked.

"When you work there as long as I did, you start to see the angles. China has the fastest growing crop of billionaires in the world. A lot of those guys were on Davis Kellogg's client list. It is a perfect cover."

"If you wanna confirm your hunch, I could always check with Langley," said Ric.

"By check he means hack," Damon clarified.

"Lightly peek."

"Gently penetrate."

"No hacking the CIA!" Matt exclaimed. "We do not do stuff like that anymore. This is the new Syndicate. And it's our job to clean up the mess made by the old one. Loose cannons like Martin represent that threat so we need to neutralize him quietly. Okay?"

"Whatever you say, boss," Emma smiled, trying not to laugh. Damon shared her sentiment.

A few hours later, Damon and Emma arrived in Hong Kong at the Grand Mandarin Hotel.

"Welcome to the Grand Mandarin Hotel. Do you have a reservation?" asked an attendant.

"Sestok, Mr. and Mrs," Damon replied, handing the woman two passports.

"We're pleased to offer a bay-view suite for extended stay and a gift basket arrived for you. We've placed it in your room." A few minutes later, they arrived at the suite. It was spectacular.

"Oh, I could get used to this," Emma said.

"You may have to. Extended stay, huh?"

"Well, Ric will be doing his sweep with the street cams and that'll take at least a couple days."

"That's right."

"So I was thinking maybe you should take your jacket off, Mister." Damon resisted her advances.

"They've got the air blasting in here, don't they?"

"Are you okay?" Emma asked as he took his jacket off, not wanting her to know what he was hiding. "You seem a little…"

"What?"

"Jumpy."

"No."

"A little bit. Little bit of Mexican jumping bean going on. Hey, is it the mission?"

"Well…"

"Cause you know there's always gonna be a mission. Might as well enjoy it."

"You're right. There is always gonna be another mission. Our life may be mission to mission for a while, right? So it'd be pointless to wait until things were normal."

"I hate waiting." She took off his belt and threw him on the bed. "Man cannot survive on mission alone." She kissed him as she unbuttoned his shirt and he pulled down the zipper of her dress. "Wait."

"What?"

"Matt said that Martin was on extended assignment for six years. Six years? So is the guy a monk? I don't think so." She called Ric who was looking at a picture of Jenna.

"Hey, Emmy. What's up? How's Hong Kong?"

"Stop looking at pictures of Jenna and help me out with something."

"What? What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"Can you pull up the pictures that Martin took when he was undercover? He was a fashion photog, right? He had to submit his proofs to magazines."

"What are you looking for?"

"Guy worked with a lot of models. I wanna know if he had a favorite."

"Gotcha. Lucky for you I already hacked most of these fashion rags."

"We're all lucky that you're a perv."

"Look, what happened with Jenna was not my fault, okay?"

"You gotta talk to her, dude. Tell her."

"She's the one not talking to me. You know, the one thing Silas and Esther got right was outlawing internal relationships."

"You still gotta talk to her."

"Okay."

"Good. Good. Because I think…"

"No, the model. I found her. At least I found the one he uses more than the others. Lynn Capshaw. And she lives in Hong Kong."

"Follow the honey." Ric placed a call to her residence to verify she was there.

"She's there. Listen, when you interrogate this one, snap a couple pics for the file."

"We're not gonna interrogate her, Ric," Damon replied. "Just gonna ask her a few questions about her boyfriend." A few minutes later, Emma and Damon arrived at the front door of Capshaw's apartment.

"Nice place," Emma noticed as she knocked on the door. No answer.

"She was definitely home, right?" Damon asked over the com.

"Confirmed," Ric replied. Emma turned the knob. The apartment was open. Emma drew her gun when she saw Lynn, dead on her bed.

"She's still warm," said Emma.

"Someone skipped out the back window. Egress to the roof."

"Martin. Why kill her? She's not a threat." They then heard police sirens.

"No, but we are." He locked the door.

"Window?"

"No, that's no good."

"It worked for Martin."

"That's what he wants. That's what he's counting on. If we run, it triggers a city-wide manhunt. The heat on us makes it harder to track him."

"So what's our alt? We get caught?"

"No, you take the window and I get caught."

"No."

"Yes," said Damon, removing his com and giving it to Emma. "HKPD will think they have their man, case closed, which leaves you free to hunt Martin."

"Damon, no."

"Emma, yes. Look, it's just the locals. It's Bolivia all over again, remember? Which means you can break me out, easy, but after you bag that son of a bitch." He gave her his gun and kissed her. "I will see you at the extract. I promise." Emma left out the window just as the police entered the room. When Emma reached the roof, Martin began shooting. Emma took cover. After he jumped off the roof, Emma chased after him and jumped down to a metal platform just as Martin stole a car. She jumped onto the top of the van and placed Damon's com in a crack in the van's top before rolling off the side.

"Ops, Emma!"

"Ops, go ahead," said Jenna.

"I got it! I got it!" Ric yelled. "You move! Go to my station. Move!"

"Target's out of pocket. I planted Damon's com on his vehicle. Can you track it?"

"Can't track it, but we can listen in. Good move."

"Do you have a beat on Damon?"

"Emma, return to Location Blue and code in secure," Matt ordered.

"I slipped a data router on the embassy phone line. If police call the US consulate, they'll get us," said Jenna.

"Wolf Team is en route from the airport," said another analyst.

"He's at the airport," said Ric. "He's parked there."

"He might be trying to flee the country," said Matt. "Can we get a visual?"

"Should I send Wolf Team back to the airport, sir?" the analyst asked.

"No."

"Emma's coded in. Location Blue," Jenna replied. Matt activated his com.

"You injured?"

"No. What's the status on Damon?"

"Local custody pending arraignment. Waiting for him to make contact."

"What's the play?"

"Emma, we will get him home."

"Matt, send me his location."

"Martin may be trying to flee the country as we speak. I need you at the airport to set up a survey now."

"A survey is a two-man op and I am one man down."

"I know."

"No, Matt. I'm flying solo here. Damon needs extraction and I can't be in two places at once."

"I know. That's why I'm sending in support. Wolf Team is en route to rendezvous with you now." A few minutes later, Caroline walked into Emma's room. They hugged.

"Here we go, right?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, just a little sooner than I'd hoped. So…are we Caroline or Karolina?"

"I'm gonna take this coat off."

"All right," said Tyler as he entered the room with other Syndicate agents. "I want us wired in and uplinked before anyone gets a potty break. Hey, Em. You don't mind if we crash in your room, do you?"

"Yes and don't touch my mini bar," Emma joked.

"Damn."

"Martin never went through gate security," said Ric. "I got him stepping into a cab, city bound."

"He's using the airport just to switch?" Matt asked.

"No, he grabbed something in there. Looks like a kit bag. Probably stored in a locker."

"Resupply. He's gearing up."

"Boy wants a rematch with Emmy."

"No, that's too emotional. The guy uses his girlfriend's corpse to set a trap. He's taking the risk to stay in town. It's calculated. It's practical. He may have another target."

"Another CIA asset?" Jenna asked.

"There could be a whole network embedded over there. If there was, Martin would know every member of it. Silas probably loaned him out to the CIA on select missions."

"So should we call the CIA now?" Ric asked.

"I cannot tell them that a Syndicate assassin killed one of their people."

"Especially since we don't exist," Jenna added.

"Right, so should we hack the CIA now?" Ric asked.

"Do it," Matt sighed.

Meanwhile, Emma was talking with Caroline next to the window while The Syndicate set up shop.

"I'm happy you're here. It's just weird having a Syndicate Alpha team as backup, you know?" Emma asked.

"It's all weird. I'm not used to playing myself as my cover. World knows me as Karolina Fedorov, the scandalous Russian heiress. Pretty much blown for undercover work."

"We could use your high profile. Especially if it was a distraction."

"You wanna run a con on the Hong Kong Police?"

"Syndicate's on the line," said Tyler. Emma activated the com.

"We have a critical update on our target and his targets," said Matt.

"Targets. Plural?"

"We've confirmed a network of six CIA assets who have infiltrated China's one percent. They all work in the high-end luxury field. Wine, art, jewelry, cars, yachts. We think Martin may be selling them out one by one."

"Who's he selling to? Chinese Intelligence?"

"That'd be our best guess. Only one of the six is actually in China right now. James Wright. He's a car broker. James is set to arrive in Hong King tomorrow morning, transporting a vintage car for one of his clients. We think that he is Martin's next target. Emma, I need you to intercept this guy before he has an accident."

"What about Damon? We've got a plan to get him. It's low pro."

"Wolf Team can carry that out. We need to stop Martin and wrap out of Hong Kong before things get a whole lot worse."

"Where and when?"

"He'll be at the port, 0900."

The next morning, Emma arrived at the port.

"I've got eyes on Wright," said Emma. She then spotted Martin. "Get down!" Emma yelled before kicking Wright into the car and taking off in the old car. A few minutes later, Emma received a call.

"What?"

"Emma, we are in a rapidly escalating situation here. Martin just upped the ante. I want to put us all on the line," said Matt.

"Do it."

"Hello, Emma," said Martin. "I know you from your file, but we haven't been properly introduced. I'm the guy who's got something you want. And you're the girl who's got something I want. So let's make a deal. Since you grabbed Mr. Wright, I assume you know what I'm trying to get done here in Hong Kong."

"You work at MSS as a contract killer. I can't say you've traded up from The Syndicate."

"You got it wrong. I wrote the contract. That's what freelance means. If anything, MSS is working for me. If I tell them to let Damon go, they will."

"If you think I'm gonna trade your target for my partner, you haven't read my file close enough."

"Keep the car guy. You earned him. What I want is for you to get out of my way and let me finish my job."

"You mean killing innocent people?"

"Says the lady sent to kill her own kind."

"Martin, this is Matt Donovan speaking. I've been authorized by the President herself to oversee The Syndicate. I can tell you that we no longer terminate agents here. That was in Silas' day, not mine."

"Esther predicted you'd say that."

"You're working with Esther?" Emma asked.

"No, but she offered. Maybe two hours after I got the recall order, I got a message from Esther on the same encrypted channel."

"How the hell?" Matt asked Ric.

"She must have decrypted the Black Box. Had the whole roster on it."

"She warned us that anyone who obeyed the recall was walking into their own execution."

"And you believed her," said Emma.

"Why would she lie? We don't exist. So who's gonna know we're gone?"

"Martin, the President has offered amnesty to every single member of The Syndicate," said Matt. "If they work with us to capture the other ones out there, they'll earn their freedom and enough money to resettle."

"And you believe her? I want my money now. I want my freedom now."

"This about more than just you."

"Just shut up and sit down. I'm dealing with Emma on this, not you, tough guy. Emma?"

"I don't work well with a gun to my head or my friend's head either. My fangs get all itchy."

"That's your problem. Too many friends. Esther always told us loved ones are liabilities."

"Is that why you killed Lynn?"

"I want you out of Hong Kong tonight. When the other four innocent spies are dead, which may take me a few weeks, Damon will be released and you'll get his location. Or you get stupid and he gets dead." He hung up.

"This is easy. Martin is using Damon as leverage. We free Damon, we take away his leverage," said Emma to Matt.

"It was easy when the cops had him. Now it's state security. Sleight of hand won't work."

"That's not what I had in mind."

"What'd you have in mind?"

"We follow the convoy. T-bone 'em with a Mack truck."

"A Mack truck?"

"We steal one. There's plenty in the city."

"Emma, we are there to stop Martin quietly."

"We've already stopped him. We know who his targets are. You just call the CIA and you tell them to pull their people out."

"If the CIA thinks their network is compromised, they'll pull everyone they got in China out at once."

"So?"

"Destroying an operation they likely took years to build."

"Who cares?"

"The CIA cares. The President cares. These are the people that we work for now."

"I don't give a damn about the President, Matt. I care about Damon. I don't have time for this. Ric, patch me through to Caroline. Care, are the heavies still there?"

"Copy that. Three armored SUVs."

"Shut down this channel," Matt ordered to Ric. "She does not make these calls."

"This is what we're going to do. Get my gear. I'm gonna need my scope. I'm gonna need Ric's code grabber. Meet me down at the station."

"Shut it down now!" Matt yelled.

"Sure thing, boss," Ric replied. He cut off the transmission, but the agents had all they needed. A few minutes later, Ric met Matt in his office.

"Listen, man, we've got to talk. That was not cool."

"Which part, when I invoked the chain of command or when I held Emma to it? You obviously didn't have a problem since you followed the order to cut her off."

"That's cause I had to."

"Why?"

"Because the world was watching!"

"Right and they don't know me yet. So they need to see that the person responsible for their lives is consistent and dependable."

"Not responsible for their lives, Matt. Just the operation." He saw a blanket and pillow on the couch. "Have you been sleeping in here?"

"Not every night. Just…just to catch up."

"All right. I'm gonna give you a little piece of advice that I realize you don't hear very often in Black Ops. Chill. World's still gonna be here tomorrow unless there's something you're not telling me."

"Nothing you don't already know." Ric then left. A few minutes later, Caroline met Emma outside the police station and saw the lead agent of the MSS team.

"He's making a phone call he doesn't want the cops to hear," said Emma.

"You wanna say hi? I brought the code grabber for you." A few minutes later, Caroline dropped a device into a police car and it began to steam. With a remote, Emma unlocked the SUV's sunroof. She jumped onto the car and pointed a gun at the lead agent through the roof.

"If you wanna live, you'll do exactly as I say." Emma then entered the car completely. "You don't need to talk to Martin." He ended the call.

"Onsite Alpha team confirms Emma has just taken the MSS station chief hostage," said Jenna from Ops. Matt growled.

"Yeah, we used to get that look all the time in the old rogue Emma days," said Ric. "The 'oh no, she didn't!'"

"You're gonna survive this just fine as long as you get my man back," said Emma.

"I can't. He's locked in the cell and the door can't open. Some sort of malfunction."

"Malfunction, huh? Care, he's coming out," said Emma, seeing Damon. "It's thirty yards from the door to the car. You in position?" Emma picked up the agent's ringing cell phone. It was Martin.

"You shoulda left Hong Kong. Now it's too late. You're gonna have to watch him die."

"You know what, Martin. You were right. Loved ones are a liability. It's a good thing I have more than one."

Caroline cocked a gun behind Martin who was on the rooftop opposite the police station. She shot him in the head.

"Clear."

"Everything that happens from here on out you can blame on Martin. His body will be on that roof along with his rifle."

"American Intelligence. Always betraying each other. You really have to get your house in order."

"Tell me about it. You know what, don't." Caroline then shot at the police escorting Damon. Damon and Emma took out a few guards and the chief. "Let's go!"

"Give me the gun," said Damon.

"Why?"

"Give me the damn Glock!" He ran toward the station.

"Where are you going?"

"To get your wedding ring!" Emma was stunned and smiled as he took out the head police officer and grabbed the ring box from his coat pocket. "Go! Go, go, go." They moved into the car and took off.

The next day, Emma met with Matt.

"One down. 29 to go," Matt said.

"The Dirty Thirty. At least the first one went down easy." He laughed. "So you are still Matt inside there?"

"Emma, I am the same guy that you saved multiple times. I'm still your friend."

"But you're also my boss, is that it?"

"Not just you. The other agents watch what you do. So when you break the rules…"

"You cut me off in the middle of an op. That's what they saw."

"Emma, I can see things happening from Operations that you can't see."

"And I can see things happening on the ground that you can't see. And when that happens, I need to make decisions from my gut, not argue like two-year olds! That's how I survived this long. You know that, Matt."

"You are fighting for more than just your survival now."

"What does that even mean?" He sighed. "National security? This nation doesn't even know we exist."

"And we have to keep it that way." Emma shook her head and left. Later, Emma and Damon were at a park. Damon was dragging her toward a fountain.

"Just trust me, okay?"

"Damon. You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do. I went through hell to get these back." Emma sat down on the ledge and Damon kneeled. "It took a little work, but I restored them to their glory." Emma sighed as she saw the old friend that hadn't left her left hand for centuries until The Syndicate grabbed them. "Emma, will you marry me…again?"

"You had me at 'give me the damn Glock.'" He placed the ring on her finger and she placed the ring on his. They kissed.


	26. Exile Vilify

"Ric, party time's over," said Damon as he walked into Ric's loud office. "Matt's got new…"

"What!"

"Matt's got…" Ric turned off the music. "New intel."

"Oh yeah? Is it top secret? Like your proposal?"

"Ah, come on, man," Damon groaned.

"What? I'm just saying when your obvious choice for best man for your renewal gets left out of the loop, it raises issues."

"What issues?"

"Trust issues. Like did you not trust me to keep a secret?"

"I didn't even know when I was gonna ask her."

"See, I could've assisted you in the planning phase. That's my thing."

"Are you seriously miffed that I didn't check with you first?"

"No. I'm mildly miffed you didn't check in with me afterward. I had to find out when I was deleting evidence files from the Hong Kong Police to see wedding ring among the line items. We're not going to Ops?"

"No."

"See this is what I'm talking about, man." Damon laughed as the elevator doors closed.

A few minutes later, Matt was briefing the group.

"This is a priority op. We have an agent down. Her name is Mia. She was infiltrating a domestic terror group. They call themselves Third Wave. Their goal is to defend the third world against the tyranny of the first world. FBI raided the safe house in Pittsburgh last night. Mia was captured. She's being held at a supermax vampire facility in Virginia. She's been undercover for a little over a year."

"Undercover? For who? It can't be for us because we're just here to contain rogue agents and shut this place down, right?" Emma asked.

"This was a standing mission from before we got here."

"A Silas mission?"

"A good mission. The Syndicate is different now."

"Then why didn't she get the recall order?" Damon asked.

"She did. Over a month ago. I let her stay under because she requested it."

"She requested?" Emma asked.

"I tracked Third Wave for most of my career at the CIA. They're run by an unknown operator named Joshua. Part of Mia's assignment was to identify him. I approved the extension because she was on to something new."

"Like a new attack," said Tyler.

"FBI found evidence at the scene. They haven't figured out what it means, but I think that I have."

"Aren't you forgetting something? Mia's in prison," said Caroline.

"Which is why I want to know The Syndicate's protocol for extracting a captured agent."

"There isn't one," said Ric.

"Silas' rule was, if you got caught, you did your time. They knew not to talk, but if they opened their mouths, Shane would show up and silence them," Damon elaborated.

"Syndicate's different now. I'm going in to get her," said Emma.

"You mean federal prison?"

"Yeah. I've done it before. Come on, Ric, Care." The three left the room.

"Damon, do you think you can…"

"Look, just because we're married doesn't mean she listens to me more, Donovan. So what's the intel on this new attack?"

"One of the other terrorists they nabbed had a Vimeo account. It's got home video of a minor league hockey game at an arena in Virginia. I think they're casing that arena."

"We'll check it out."

"You can try and stop the girls," said Tyler before leaving.

"Thanks."

Meanwhile, Caroline and Emma were walking down the hallway, Ric trailing behind them.

"Emma," Caroline called.

"This is not what we signed up for. Mia is trapped in prison because of us. Syndicate doesn't do active missions. Plenty of other agencies for that."

"Not as good as us."

"Oh, yeah, we're awesome. You know how tempting this is for someone in power?"

"Sounds like you don't trust Matt."

"No. It's not Matt. It's who he works for."

"You don't trust the government."

"I trust what it stands for. I don't always trust who's running it." A few minutes later, Emma was speaking with Ric privately in his office.

"Let me put it to you this way. You're out of your mind. They have Mia in the enemy combatant wing. That means no prison yard, no common time. Only time she sees another human being is when a guard shoves her food through a door slat."

"Jenna already told me the details of the prison."

"I have the prison schematics," said Jenna, entering the office and handing Emma a tablet.

"Thanks."

"Well, Jenna probably didn't tell you this, but the place is privately run which means they have proprietary software which means I haven't had a chance to hack it."

"Maybe Jenna's got time."

"I'm confident I could get us eyes inside."

"She's confident she can get you eyes inside."

"Fine, but don't expect me to start popping doors left and right."

"You only need to pop one, Ric."

"I'm not gonna talk you out of this, am I?"

"I should get working on that software. You know where to find me and congratulations on your renewal," said Jenna before leaving. "I am so thrilled for you and Damon."

"Thank you. Nice. You talk about her like she's not even in the room."

"We have a shorthand."

"Shorthand? Oh, I just thought it was you being an insensitive jerk."

"What else do you want for your suicide mission?"

"Fitting. Caroline needs a special fitting."

"What? No, no, no. I draw the line there. I'm not Esther. And this is not _America's Next Top Operative._"

"Relax, nerd. You're perfect for this one."

"Fine. Oh and by the way, go ahead and have your renewal without telling me about it."

"Ric, I didn't know Matt was gonna tell Jenna first about the ring. I didn't even know that Damon told Matt."

"Uh-huh. Now imagine all my frustration at being the last to find out."

"You're a genius, Ric," Emma smiled.

"It's gonna take a lot more kissing up than that."

That night Caroline arrived at the prison carting a large container.

"Approaching the security gate," she replied through her com.

"How are the shoes?" Ric asked.

"Comfy, actually. I don't miss Christian Louboutin. Well, maybe a little."

"I've got visual on you now, Caroline," Jenna replied. After passing through security, Caroline pulled up to Mia's cell.

"Headed for extraction."

"Emmy, I hope you've been practicing your yoga," said Ric.

"It's kendo, nerd. And I'm gonna practice it on your head," Emma growled as she contorted herself out of Caroline's cart while Caroline changed into a guard uniform. Ric laughed. Emma dropped hydrochloric acid on the lock, dissolving it. She opened the door and when she went to reach for Mia, the woman grabbed her neck, but Emma pushed her into a wall. "We're not here to kill you, Mia. We're not. You know what Matt's offering."

"Brand new Syndicate, right? Come on home, all is forgiven. Here's a gold watch and a big fat check."

"Not exactly. Why request to stay undercover?"

"I was trying to buy some time."

"You don't need to buy anything. If you come in, you're free. You're free."

"So why all the cloak and drama?"

"Because The Syndicate is still secret. If any of us want to have a life after this, it's gonna have to stay that way. Take off your clothes. You get to be FBI."

"I get a gun?"

"No." The two switched clothes and the three agents walked down the corridor.

"Alright, Emma. We've got a visual on the last corridor. You're clear."

"We've got a live one out here," said Emma, spotting a guard.

"I'm sorry, Emma. I missed him," said Jenna.

"I think we're cool." Suddenly, Mia grabbed the guard's gun and fired. Caroline pushed Emma out of the way, taking the vervain bullet in the shoulder.

"You'll never stop Third Wave," said Mia before taking off in a corrections van.

"Caroline!" Emma yelled.

"Emma, do you copy?" Matt asked.

"Mia turned. Caroline is down. I repeat, Caroline is down! Hyper-concentrated vervain."

"I was told that we owned the cameras! Every angle!" Ric yelled as Caroline was brought in to Medical.

"He slipped past. I told you the cameras were inadequate!" Jenna yelled.

"He slipped past you."

"Emma was fully aware, and I was monitoring."

"You missed him and they could have been killed."

"You had their communications."

"I don't what the hell kind of ship you were running before we got here…" They turned and saw Emma walk into the room, blood spattered on her chest and arms, dripping onto the floor.

"You all did a great job. Get ready for more." She walked toward Matt and Damon.

"Are you all right?" Damon asked.

"Yeah. What have we got?"

"A target. Senator Wallace Herek. He's hosting a small rally to welcome home the troops from Afghanistan. Lots of soldiers and their families."

"Plenty of symbolism for Third Wave," Matt added. "Emma, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left Mia undercover. If I thought she was unstable, I would have pulled her out."

"Couldn't have known she would turn."

"I put you and Caroline in danger and I put a very well-trained terrorist out into the world."

"She won't be for long. What else we got?"

"Her Syndicate phone. It's locked up in FBI evidence. No one at Quantico's been able to crack it," said Damon.

"When it arrives, get it to Ric. I'm gonna clean up."  
"Emma, why do you think she turned?" Matt asked.

"She shot Caroline. I don't give a rat's ass."

An hour later, Caroline had recovered from her wound and was in Ric's office.

"This is really sick. This Joshua guy's like a cross between Che Guevera and Charlie Manson. We found a bunch of emails on Mia's phone. He worked her for months. Guy's a real snake charmer."

"Jenna came by to see how I was doing."

"Whatever she said to you, it is a lie. Everybody thinks they know what happened between us, but they don't."

"I'll tell you what I do know. I got shot. I don't particularly like vervain bullets, especially when they make me this fuzzy. Just fix it." Ric's computer beeped.

"Shadowbot. Good boy."

"What did he find?"

"I've been trying to find any activity related to Joshua's email. Well, well, well. Numbered accounts in the Caymans. What would Che Junior want with an offshore tax haven?"

"Numbered accounts, nameless accounts. Cayman banks are perfect for that."

"Wait a second. The accounts are all linked to shell companies. Look at all the property they own."

"This is the address of the safe house that the FBI raided. This place…can you map that?"

"It's six miles from the arena."

Later, Emma and Damon entered the warehouse with a strike team. Third Wave agents quickly arrived and fired on The Syndicate.

"We're pinned down here!" Emma yelled.

"Most of them are downstairs. Infrared's reading three heat blooms up top though," said Ric through the coms. Emma went down a separate hallway and shot one man until Joshua revealed himself.

"Where's Mia? Where is she?" Emma asked.

"Let him go or we all die," said Mia, entering the room wearing a suicide vest. "It's armed. You pull your trigger, I pull mine."

"I hope you're a good shot," said Joshua. "You hit the gel in that vest and boom."

"Go, Joshua. Go," Mia urged. He ran down the hallway.

"How fast do you think Joshua can run? You want to save him? He won't even make it to the stairs. You lied to me. You're gonna regret that."

"Your life is a lie. The Syndicate is a lie. I killed for The Syndicate. Innocent blood on my hands. They turned me into this. I never wanted to be a vampire."

"You're preaching to the choir, honey."

"I didn't think that there was any way to make it right until one person stood up."

"Who? Joshua?" Emma mocked.

"You." Emma was shocked by her response. "You were supposed to tear that place down. You kept it running!"

"The Syndicate is different now." Emma knocked the trigger for the vest out of Mia's hand and threw the younger vampire to the floor with a punch. Mia grabbed Emma's leg and she fell, loosing her grasp for her gun. Quickly, Emma grabbed it as the two rose. "Stop."

"Why? We're already dead, right?"

"No."

"I'm willing to die for what I believe in. Are you willing to die for The Syndicate?" Mia then pushed Emma out the window onto pallets laying outside.

Later, a doctor snapped Emma's shoulder back into place. She grimaced in pain.

"Thanks, Doc," Emma groaned as Caroline walked into Medical.

"I can't believe she was really gonna do it," said Caroline.

"Yeah. Something happened, Care. I went there to kill this crazy bitch and I found myself looking in a mirror. She asked me if I was willing to die for The Syndicate." Emma rubbed her finger across her wedding ring. "I didn't have an answer."

"That's because you've spent so much time trying to take this place down."

"Exactly. And in that time, no one thought I could be stopped because they thought I was stronger or faster. It had nothing to do with that."

"Then what was it?"

"I was committed. I was more committed than my enemies. I believed. If I lose that…" Caroline grabbed her hand.

Meanwhile, Damon and Tyler were sparring.

"So he came at me kind of like this," said Damon.

"That's Silat," said Tyler. "A little slow. That's what happens when you get married. It softens you up."

"Right. So a lot of MMA fighters use Silat, don't they? So do SEALs."

"Yeah. Mostly SEALs. You think this Joshua guy used to be one?"

"Not sure. His group of rebels? They had a lot of moves. They came at me two by two in controlled bursts."

"Rebels usually just spray."

"Maybe Mr. Joshua taught them a few things."

"If he's a SEAL, he's gonna be tough to track. I could check with the Cappy, though, see if he knows something. In the meantime..." Tyler jabbed him with the fake knife.

"Ah."

"Leave the knife-fighting up to the pros." Damon twisted his wrist and flung the knife out of his hand.

"Know your audience, man."

Upstairs, Emma was talking to Matt in his office.

"You've got to see this. Joshua has got a money trail that winds all over the planet. Numbered accounts in the Caymans, Liechtenstein. Damon and Tyler are working an angle that he's ex-military. I've seen it before. Lot of these guys, they go native, find a cause, take up arms," said Matt.

"How is he getting his money?"

"I don't know, but it's not very third world of him."

"Mia's traded one lie for another. She has no idea."

"I talked to Herek's people. You and Damon will attend the rally as FBI. Full Alpha support. If Mia shows up, we take her out."

"No. Mission hasn't changed, same as the prison. We find her, we bring her in alive." Emma then walked down to Ric's office for a briefing.

"Okay, the Senator and soldiers are gathering here. Main floor. It's big, it's wide, super-high ceilings. But I have come up with a way for you to keep eyes on everything at all times. Incredibly awesome and I designed it myself."

"We're thrilled for you, Ric. Where is it?" Damon asked impatiently.

"It's right there." They turned and saw a virtually silent hovering camera in the air.

"Cute toy," Tyler quipped.

"Whisper-quiet, all-seeing. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Saltzman unmanned tactical robot."

"Where's my toy?" Emma asked.

"Keep your pants on. It's right here. Looks like your ordinary standard baton, right? Not quite. Electro-muscular disruption, kiddies. A target shock at just the right voltage shouldn't set off the vest."

"You're positive?" Emma asked, taking the baton.

"Yeah. Like 97%."

Later at the stadium, Emma spotted Mia on the second level. She walked up the stairs and activated her baton. She shocked Mia, but she wasn't wearing the vest.

"I told you I was willing die. I'm not the only one," said Mia.

"Who's wearing the vest? Who? You talk about things The Syndicate made you do? How's killing innocents gonna fix that?"

"Herek and his shock troops are the target. Joshua said they're the ones who have to pay."

"You can't even see who he really is."

"He fights for those who can't fight for themselves."

"No, Mia. No! He fights for himself. He's got offshore accounts. He's lining his pockets. It's Silas all over again."

"You're lying."

"I can prove it."

"Joshua said you would try and tear him down, but he knows. He's just like us. When he was Delta, he spread murder and fear and he figured out a way to stop it. Joshua knows." Emma shocked her again until she fell unconscious.

"Ric, get me Caroline. We were wrong. He's Special Ops. He's not a SEAL."

"Deltas fall under JSOC operational control so as long as Ric got us into the right personnel servers, facial recog should…" said Tyler in ops before an image appeared.

"Joshua," said Caroline.

"Better known as Major Travis Ryerson, recruited out of the 75th Ranger Regiment."

"Retired?"

"'09. Did a couple of joint ops with the SEALs. That's where he learned his little Ka-bar move. Oh shit."

"What?"

"Joshua's got a partner. I'm getting on a chopper."

"Damon, something's coming through on your tablet." She forwarded him the image of Joshua's unit.

"Hey, man. What's up?" Herek's head of security asked.

"I just got some intel. It appears that Joshua is actually Travis Ryerson. He's ex-Delta, two tours in Iraq, two more in Afghanistan. But you already knew that because you were in the same unit."

"Ryerson? I haven't seen that man since he told me he wasn't gonna re-up. But Third Wave? You think he went native or something?"

"You tell me."

"I gotta get this out to my guys." He left. As Damon followed him, he shot at him. Damon took cover as the man escaped.

"Emma," Damon called over the com.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"After Anson."

"Anson?"

"He partnered up with Joshua. They were in the same unit during the war. My guess is they're drumming up clients, create an enemy force, and charge by the hour to defend against 'em."

"Cowboys and Indians."

"Joshua puts on the war paint, attacks the town."

"Anson wears the badge. That explains Joshua's offshore accounts. Damon, can you get me hard proof?"

"Not yet. But I will."

"Good cause I'm gonna need it."

"Emma, we got 'em. On your phone," said Ric. Emma played the feed for Mia. She watched Joshua sell the group out.

"My God. What have I done?" Mia gasped. "Salvador's the bomber. He's down there."

"If he sees me, he'll blow the vest. He trusts you."

"I'll stop him. There's just two other spotters we've gotta take out first."

"We're not killing anyone." While Emma took out the two spotters and Tyler and Damon took care of Joshua and Anson, Mia walked through the crowd. Salvador unzipped in his jacket and one of the guests shouted "Bomb!" Agents shot Mia by accident. Emma then knocked Salvador unconscious.

Later after Mia's injuries were treated, Emma walked into Matt's office.

"Look I know you're under a lot of pressure to deliver, but you've gotta promise me one thing, Matt. No more active missions, okay?"

"No more. Promise."

"And maybe we could get rid of all this paper on your desk. You got a problem with the current century?" Matt laughed.

"Will you just cut me some slack, please? I'm still trying to…figure this out."

"Me too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Can I help you now? There's a lot of paper. Got a shredder?"

"Don't play with that. There's a system here, all right?"

"You're the only person in the building who hasn't gone paperless."

"There's a reason for all this."

"Uh-huh."


	27. Thieves and Kings

"So listen. I've been thinking of how we left things and maybe we should have dinner, you know?" Ric asked as Jenna in Ops.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think we should keep our relationship strictly professional. We've finally reached a place where we can peacefully coexist at work and I don't want to complicate that."

"Another Dirty Thirty?" Damon asked, walking down the stairs with Emma.

"Not exactly," Ric replied, sliding back to his station. "Kol."

"Oh my God," Emma smiled.

"He's alive," Damon added, shocked, "He dropped off the face of the earth six months ago. How'd you find him?"

"The evening news. According to reports, Kol tried to rob a bank in Montreal. The same bank where he stopped a robbery two years ago. Nothing was stolen and he was long gone by the time the cops got there."

"It wasn't a robbery," Emma replied. "He's sending me a message."

"How do you know it isn't a trap?" Matt asked.

"Kol wouldn't do that."

"Then why not pick up a phone and call?"

"He wouldn't know where to call," Damon replied. "Last he knew we were in the beach house and that's long gone."

"That's why he's back on the grid," Emma added. "He wants me to find him. I know where he's headed next."

"Take a team."

"A team? Matt, we've been looking for Kol for six months. He's not some rogue agent who just refuses to come in. He probably doesn't even know what's happened here."

"And we don't know what's happened to him."

A few hours later, Emma, Damon, and an Alpha team were walking down the hallways of a school.

"An abandoned school?" Damon asked.

"After Kol fled that bank two years ago, he went to ground. This is where I tracked him." Emma looked at the Syndicate agents.

"Don't worry. They know the drill. Non-lethal only."

"Yeah, what about you?" Emma smirked.

"I'll try not to shoot him." Suddenly, Emma and Damon heard yelling and ran to another corridor.

"Where is she? Where's Emma!"

"Kol, Kol, Kol! I'm here. It's okay. Let him go. He's not a threat. They're with us. They all are."

"They're with you? They're Syndicate."

"So are we," Damon replied. Kol looked at Emma confused.

"I know. It's crazy. It's a long story."

"Silas is dead. Esther's gone rogue."

"Kol, no one is gonna hurt you, but you have to let him go. Things are different now." Kol threw the man he had in his grip on the floor and was about to punch him when Damon snapped his neck. "Damon!"

"What! He'll wake up."

Later, Kol was in an interrogation room, Emma, Damon, and Matt observing from another room.

"This is ridiculous. Kol already told us after he got taken by The Collective that he was thrown into a Russian prison," said Emma.

"We have no evidence to back up his story. Let's just interrogate him and make sure this isn't some ploy," Matt rebutted.

"Say what you want about the guy, but Kol isn't exactly a criminal mastermind. The Collective probably bribed some prison official to keep him off the books and that's why we couldn't find him," Damon replied.

"Then there's nothing to worry about. We verify that he is telling the truth, and that's the end of it."

"Fine. I'll talk to him," Emma said.

"Emma, you're too close to this. We need someone impartial. Someone he doesn't know," said Matt as Caroline entered the room.

"Hello, Kol. I'm Caroline."

"So you're Caroline. Last time I saw Emma, you guys were on the outs. You kiss and make up?"

"There wasn't any kissing, but yes. Now it's your turn to talk. You told Emma you were in a Russian prison. How did you get out?"

"One of your Syndicate cleaners broke me out. Anne."

"Ex-Syndicate. Now rogue. You knew Anne. Were you two friends?"

"Anne doesn't have friends."

"If you and Anne weren't friends, why would she help you?"

"She wanted information on an old mission."

"Which mission?"

"Skeleton Key."

Matt and Damon then went to talk with Ric.

"Operation Skeleton Key. NSA had some genius dude in their basement developing unbreakable encryption algorithms. The thing is, this guy wasn't just designing them, he was also figuring out how to crack them," said Ric.

"Let me guess. Silas found out and while it's not technically treason, it was close enough for him to blackmail genius dude," Matt replied.

"Kol faked the guy's death and Silas turned him into his pet engineer. The Engineer."

"The designer of the Black Boxes," Damon realized.

"Before Silas snapped his neck right in front of me."

"What's this device that Anne was after?" Matt asked.

"Cryptograph. Master key. Access to any system in the world."

"Any system. FBI, CIA, NSA?" Damon asked.

"Syndicate," Matt realized.

"Probably why the device was stored off-site for safe-keeping," Ric added. "Only three people knew where. Silas, The Engineer, and Kol."

"And Kol's the only one left," said Damon.

Meanwhile, Emma was walking in the hall with Kol.

"You've been busy. Silas, Esther, Mikael. Checked a lot off your to-do list while I was gone."

"I got a hair cut too."

"You skipped over one thing. Shut down The Syndicate."

"Kol."

"Emma, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm helping people like us who deserve a second chance."

"Sounds more like you're hunting down and killing people like us."

"Not killing. Bringing in."

"How many you brought in so far?"

"We are saving lives, okay? There was a couple of CIA assets. There was a young girl who was kidnapped. We got her back to her family."

"How many rogue agents have you found?"

"Three."

"And how many did you bring in alive?"

"One. But…she killed herself a few days ago."

"So when you say things are different, what you really meant is nothing's changed."

"Look, I've had my doubts like you, but we're still trying to find our feet. It's only been a couple of months."

"Is that how long it takes to get numb?" Emma walked past him. "Actions have consequences, Emma. You told me that. Are you thinking about all the consequences?"

"Hey," Damon called. "We're prepped for retrieval. We just need to know where to go."

"You remember how I told you The Engineer's a little bit weird?" Kol asked the two.

A few hours later, they had arrived at a cemetery at night.

"The Engineer kept his super-secret decoder ring in a cemetery?" Emma asked.

"He was paranoid. He hated that Silas kept the Black Boxes in banks because banks always get robbed. Looks a lot different now. I guess they got a lot of new dead people."

"We'll split up. What are we looking for?"

"Anthony George. It's a flat marker." Damon, Emma, and Kol took different paths. Kol found the gravestone and retrieved the item. "Got it!" Suddenly, a man fired. Emma and Damon took cover and fired.

"What is this? Armed grave robbers?" she yelled.

"We're taking fire! We need backup."

"Damon, cover me. I'm going to find Kol." Emma ran off as Damon fired. Emma found Kol incapacitated and saw Anne run into a vehicle being driven by Esther. Emma fired, but the glass was bulletproof.

"What, does Anne have a freakin army now?" Damon asked after catching up to his wife.

"Anne's just a soldier. It's Esther's army."

"How exactly did Esther build an army without us knowing?" Matt asked when Emma and Damon returned to The Syndicate.

"We knew she was recruiting," Emma replied.

"Well, that explains Anne, but not the other well-armed mercenaries."

"I think some of them are ex-Collective, like Mikael," said Damon. "I think they still might be together."

"Lovely. Well at least ex-Collective agents have real identities that we can track."

"One of the gunmen from the cemetery survived. He's in Medical. We'll start with him." Damon left.

"What?" Matt asked Emma.

"I can't figure out why Anne tried to grab Kol again. She had the drop on him. She could have taken him out and split with the cryptograph."

"Maybe she wanted Kol for something else."

"No. She takes orders from Esther. So the question is, what does Esther want with Kol?" Emma left and found Kol in the basement, Esther's house of horrors. "What are you doing down here?"

"Looking for answers. I thought if I could remember what Esther did to me back then, maybe I'd know what she wants with me now."

"We'll find out what Esther's up to. We've got one of her guys. When he wakes up, we're gonna get started on him."

"I never told you everything about me. I never told you about my life before The Syndicate."

"I know you never liked to talk about it."

"Because I can't remember it. Any of it. My life before The Syndicate is a blank."

"That's impossible. You have to remember something."

"I used to think it was a side effect from the drugs they put me on. I mean The Regimen screwed with everything else. Why not my memories too?"

"All this time. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there was so much going on. The Black Boxes, Silas, The Sentinels. I figured I'd have plenty of time to work it out later."

"Yeah. Then you ended up in prison with nothing but time."

"That's when I realized every time I try to remember my life before The Syndicate, I get these headaches. Worse than anything."

"They erased your whole life."

"She erased my life. Esther did this to me and I want to know why."

"Help me find her. We'll ask her in person," said Emma as she took his hand. Suddenly, the two heard sirens from Medical. The whole department had been sealed off due to a biohazard. Later, Hazmat teams went in to retrieve the source of the toxin, the Syndicate's prisoner. The leader of the team opened the door.

"We're clear." Emma, Damon, and Matt walked in to the see the dead staff.

"Eight dead," Emma sighed.

"Including our prisoner. Another four more probably won't make it," said Matt.

"Do we know what it was?"

"A very virulent strain of vervain originally created for combat use, but discontinued after The Cleansing. It was housed inside a thin silicone pouch."

"So when the doctor hit the seal, it hit the air and turned to vapor," said Damon.

"Ventilation sealed off the area, but not fast enough."

"She did this," Emma growled. Suddenly, Esther came on the television screens.

"Hello, Syndicate. You must all be wondering how such a terrible accident could have happened in this place where you've always been safe. Well, let me assure you." Emma stormed out of the room. "This was no accident and you no longer have a safe place. Emma murdered Silas and forced me out. She killed your friends and comrades and now you follow her because she told you a story."

"You got anything?" Ric asked Jenna.

"We're completely shut out."

"If you played along like good little boys and girls, the government would forgive all your sins," said Esther.

"How the hell's she doing this!" Matt yelled.

"It's her shiny new cryptograph," Ric replied. "She's taking it for a spin."

"If something seems too good to be true, it is," said Esther.

"Shut down the signal," Matt ordered. "Now."

"We're trying."

"Pull the plug."

"On the entire system?" Jenna asked.

"For those of you that stay, I will hunt you, I will find you, and you will pay with your life. That is if your government, doesn't erase you first." Esther's feed then cut out.

"Esther lies. We all know that. I made a promise to each and every one of you and I intend to keep it, no matter what," Emma spoke up. "So let's get back to work. Let's find her."

"Get the other bodies out of the building. I don't want to take any more chances," said Matt.

"I have something," said Jenna. "We may be able to use Esther's signal to track her."

"She thinks she can taunt us. Looks like she overplayed her hand," said Emma.

"I've got it. They're in Luxembourg. Wooded area just outside of Beaufort."

"Notify Alpha team Four. Wheels up in two hours," Matt ordered. "Brief 'em on the plane."

"Call it," said Ric.

"Esther seems fond of fairy tales. Operation Black Forest."

"Let's burn the witch's house down," Emma smirked.

A few hours later, the team had arrived in Luxembourg.

"Alpha team's first through the door. Clear the path. Jenna, you're Damon and Caroline's eyes. Get 'em to that cryptograph. Ric," Matt said.

"I've got Emmy and Kol. We're looking for Esther. If you do see Esther, you might want to avoid eye contact. Maybe you won't turn to stone, but why risk it?"

"Thanks for the tip, nerd," Emma chuckled.

"In position," Jenna replied.

"We're a go," Matt ordered. Emma and Kol breached one of the doors quietly. Emma walked upstairs.

"This is Caroline. Heading for the cryptograph. "

"Turn right and go across the hall."

"Eyes on Esther," said Kol.

"Where? Ric, guide me to Kol's tracker," said Emma. Suddenly, Caroline's gun went off, alerting the Collective to a foreign presence. The alpha team burst in and exchanged gunfire with their Russian counterparts. Damon recovered Caroline and the cryptograph while Kol confronted Esther.

"I should shoot you," Kol said.

"But you need me. You want answers and I have them."

"Tell me what you did."

"Where do you want me to start, Kol? Or should I call you son? What's what I used to call you. My little boy."

"No."

"That's right. I'm your mama." Outside the room, Emma had encountered the steel door. With all her strength, she pushed in the door until the hinges broke. She found Kol on the floor with his neck broken. Esther was gone.

Later, Kol woke up in a hospital bed. Emma was at his bedside.

"Hey. What happened?" she asked.

"That bitch. I don't what she did to me, but she must have short-circuited my brain or something. After Eliza died, I got up every morning thinking that today would be the day that I'd finally put an end to Silas. That's what drove me. Now he's gone and the whole world has changed. I'm not really sure what's next. Hell, I'm not even really sure who I am."

"You know who you are. You're our first success. You're the first rogue agent we've brought in alive who didn't want to meet the sun."

"Yeah. Finally get to chalk one up in the win column, huh?"

"I think it just means that we might be getting the hang of it."

"It only counts if I stay. My schedule is pretty clear. I guess I could stick around."

Meanwhile, Ric was in his office working when Jenna snuck up on him. He jumped.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," said Jenna.

"You're sta…oh, you want to, um…I would love to, but I'm right in the middle of…"

"What? What is all this?"

"I kept thinking about Esther's prophecy of doom. So she used the cryptograph to get into our system, but how did she know when to do it?"

"Maybe she knew when the gas had been released, like it was some sort of trigger for the video."

"I thought of that. She didn't access our system until an hour after the attack."

"For her to know that, she would have had to have someone on the inside."

"I couldn't think of another explanation."

"Show me what you've done so far."

"Thought you were hungry."

"We'll order in. You can pay."

"We'd have to kill the delivery man."

"True," Jenna laughed.

Upstairs, Matt was looking at the cryptograph.

"Since we blew up Esther's safe house, she and Mikael are back on the run."

"It's not a total win, but it's a start," said Damon.

"Kol's staying. It's a win," Emma replied, walking into the room.

"I took a look at the room you found Kol in. Something caught my eye. We don't know what the chair does, but Ric recognized this. It's used for brain surgery. Esther tried to lobotomize him with it."

"You think she was gonna use that on Kol?"

"She already did something to him. Kol's tests showed scarring in his brain. It's not recent, and it's not due to an injury. They're surgical scars."

"That's what caused his memory loss," said Damon.

"Most likely. Esther won't stop. She is angry and her rage is focused on you."

"I can handle Esther."

"In the last 48 hours, she has ambushed us, tried to kidnap Kol, and set off a bioweapon within these walls. That is one hell of an opening move."

"Then we figure out what she's gonna do next."


	28. Change The World

"Thousands gather to celebrate the special election of Alexi Markov as president of the Republic of Uzbekistan. His swift rise to power came on the heels of the sudden death of former President Zelensky last month," said a news report. Matt stopped the tape.

"This guy was Syndicate?" Caroline asked.

"To the world, he's Alexi Markov. To us, Edward," said Ric. "Sent into deep cover six years ago to infiltrate the People's Liberty Movement – Uzbekistan's main opposition party."

"How the hell did he become…" Emma began.

"Master of his domain?" Ric asked. "A little luck, a lot of cojones. He carved out a role for himself as the party's enforcer. He wormed his way up the ranks, then when the PLM rose to power last month, he found himself a heartbeat away."

"He made sure that heart didn't beat very long," said Damon.

"One of the Dirty Thirty is the leader of a foreign country," said Matt, shocked. "This is a disaster. We talked about these rogues being loose cannons. This one's a loose nuke."

"At least we know where he is," said Caroline. "We head to Uzbekistan."

"You and what army?" Ric asked. "Cause this guy literally has an army."

"He already wiped out our advance team. He's gonna be on high alert. This can't be an away game."

"He's got a White House state visit on the books for next week," Matt remembered. "That's our window. When he's in our backyard."

"Tricky. If a leader of a foreign country dies on US soil, whether real or if we fake it, it'll look suspicious," said Damon.

"That's why he's not going to die. We take him and swap him with a double. Then we plot his death on our own timeline. Look, I have read the files. I know The Syndicate's done this before."

"Yeah, with carefully selected assets, months of vetting, and witches capable of changing a vampire's appearance. We don't have the time."

"Unless you ask the President to delay the meeting," Emma interrupted.

"The President? And what do I tell her when she asks why?"

"That she'd be helping us get one of our targets."

"I'm not telling the President that a rogue Syndicate agent is currently running Uzbekistan! Now, we intercept Markov after he arrives in the States but before he gets to the White House! I want ConOps and mission breakdown on my desk by close of play!" Matt ordered before leaving.

"I'm just gonna say it," said Ric as Emma followed Matt. "There are lots of brands of decaf that are just as tasty as the real thing. I say we make the switch."

"You know, there is still a little piece of my head you didn't bite off in case you want to go for seconds," Emma snapped, entering Matt's office.

"I know," Matt sighed. "I'm sorry but this a volatile situation."

"We realize that. We all know how high the stakes are. You need to trust that we know what we're doing and we're not going to let you down. Can you do that?"

"Of course."

"Okay. But I mean based on how tightly wound you've been lately, I'm not so sure. I'm not just talking about today."

"Ric and Jenna came to me with something. Looks like Esther knew exactly when the attack on Medical went down."

"Knew how?"

"Bad version, somebody told her."

"A mole. Well, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Probably too much to hope that this was one big, happy ship."

"The _Titanic_ was a happy ship right until the end."

"Let me put Caroline on it. She's experienced with this."

"Right. It takes a mole to catch a mole."

"You sure that's all?"

"The Markov situation isn't helping. I knew these rogues would be trouble. I had no idea how much."

"Don't worry about it. We'll catch this guy." Matt then went to talk with Caroline.

"Talk to Ric and Jenna. They can get you access to the entire network. Keep it quiet."

"Right. Sneaky-sneak."

"You're authorized to question anybody you think is of interest."

"Yeah? Where are you going?"

"Except me."

Meanwhile, Emma and Damon were in Ric's office.

"How the hell are we gonna get this guy? His security profile's pretty solid. Once his personal guards turn him in to the Secret Service he's basically untouchable," said Damon.

"So the White House is the end zone," said Emma. "We can't let him in."

"The most secure building in the world?" Damon asked. "That's kind of a nonstarter. That leaves his hotel. He's gonna be there one night before he meets President Spencer."

"Even if we grab him there, how are we gonna replace him?"

"Ah, the miracle of science," Ric replied. "It's an electro-active polymer. It changes shape when you run a current through it. DARPA's been developing it to create artificial muscle for wounded soldiers. If you have detailed enough data, you can achieve…"

"A mask."

"It's pretty ain't it? The perfect replica. Same tone and consistency as real skin and muscle."

"So who's gonna wear it?"

"Someone the same height and build as Markov, someone who speaks Russian and has experience in cover missions."

"You," said Emma, looking at Damon.

"_Da_," he replied.

"Only hitch is we need ultra-detailed measurements to get this thing to work, which means a laser scan of Markov's face. Should take about two hours," said Ric.

"So we need to build in a two-hour gap between grabbing Markov and replacing him – I mean, me. So I can see how we get to him, but extraction? It's not gonna be easy transporting him out of there, not quietly," said Damon.

"We don't have to transport him. He's gonna transport himself," Emma smirked.

That night, Caroline visited Jenna in Briefing.

"How's Whac-a-mole? Matt brought me up to speed."

"Mm. I'm glad. I could use your help. I've been scanning server traffic," said Jenna.

"Find anything?"

"No. I've been checking for incursions, but all of the packet filters are intact. If anyone hacked in, they've covered it up really well."

"Look for a protocol-wrapped tunnel."

"A shell program? First thing Ric had me do. I told him it would be pretty obvious and he got all huffy."

"I don't know what's worse for Ric. The fact that someone pulled one over on him or that it was Emma, Damon, and I."

"Someone's breached an internal firewall."

"Are they contacting someone on the outside?"

"No, they're on an older server. Archived records, low-level data. The access point is Medical. Whoever's doing this is there right now." Caroline quickly ran down to Medical. Meanwhile, Ric and Damon were in Ops.

"Emma's on approach. Detaching from glider…now," said Ric.

"Ops, Emma. Touchdown."

"Copy that. Target's in the zone," Damon replied.

"Okay, you're looking for the h-vac unit," Ric added. "It's at the southeast corner. Tap the number three line."

"Got it." Emma opened up her kit and grabbed a canister.

"Okay. Is he ready for room service?" Damon asked.

"Almost."

"Hey, bring me back some chocolates, will you?"

"They'll be on your pillow tonight," said Emma as she activated the vervain gas which knocked out Markov. Emma came in through the window of the bedroom, wearing a gas mask.

Meanwhile, Caroline walked into Medical.

"Sprucing the place up?" Caroline asked Kol.

"Making it homier. No. They're retrofitting the place with new biocontainment safeties."

"Because of Esther's gas attack."

"It's the gift that keeps on giving. Guys, give us a minute?" The engineers left. "What's up?"

"Still having problems with your memories?"

"No change if that's what you mean."

"It must be really frustrating knowing Esther's got all the answers. Probably very tempting to try and reach out."

"What are you talking about?"

"A restricted server was breached coming from this location. Did anyone ask you to go looking for something?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but yeah, I was hunting…for information on my past. The file Emma gave me had nothing, so I figured I'd search the archive."

"On a classified volume. How did you break in?"

"Just cause I was a Cleaner doesn't mean I didn't go through the rest of the training. I didn't realize you were watching me. Why are you asking about Esther?"

"Can't be too careful."

"If you're worried about her getting into the system, why are you monitoring internal traffic? You think she has a mole. That's it, isn't it? Let me help you find him. This could lead to Esther."

"I can't talk to you about this."

"You said it yourself. Esther has answers about my past."

"Shut up."

"Look, I'm not gonna let you…"

"No, no. Seriously shut up. You hear that?" A device continued to beep.

At Markov's hotel in D.C., the rogue agent woke up.

"Hey. Wake up. Yeah. There's a com in your ear. That's why you can hear me," said Damon. "In your mouth is a modified M67 Frag grenade which is now armed. Do exactly as I say or you're gonna have a very, very unhappy dentist. Don't remove it either. There's a bag next to you. In it is a rappelling harness. There's a line already outside the window, get yourself down to the street and don't let security see you. Also, you have three minutes." Markov repelled down the street.

"Hands!" Emma yelled, pointing a gun. He raised his hands and Emma deactivated the grenade.

"You stupid bitch. Do you even know what you've done?" Markov asked.

"Taken a murdering psychopath with delusions of grandeur out of commission. Am I in the ballpark? Get in the car."

"You have ensured the destruction of The Syndicate." Emma threw him into the car. At The Syndicate, Caroline and Kol entered a room. A spigot blew off the wall. Kol noticed a lit blow torch. The two vampires jumped out of the room before it blew. When Emma arrived at The Syndicate with an unconscious Markov, Syndicate staff were putting out small fires with fire extinguishers.

"Is everyone okay?" Emma asked.

"Yeah," Caroline replied.

"Kol and Caroline were the only ones here. They got clear," Matt added. "How long do we have before we have to get Markov back?"

"Four hours, tops," Damon answered.

"Let's get him to Ric. Start the scan," Emma said. "We got to get you changed."

"I still have to sample his vocals too." Emma and Damon ran out to get prepped while Kol found the spigot.

"Traces of corrosive on the edge. This was planned."

"You sure?" Matt asked.

"I know my acids. That mole does not want to be found."

"You weren't supposed to say anything," Matt scolded Caroline.

"I didn't tell him. He guessed."

"Why do I get the feeling you all think I'm an idiot?"

"Okay, pull all the duty rosters, find out who had access, and start questioning them. If anybody asks, this was an accident. Everyone's jumpy already. Go to the arms locker, get a sidearm. The mole knows you're on the hunt."

In Ric's office, Ric was setting up a larger scanner.

"All right, once the mapping's done, it shouldn't take long to shape the polymer," said Ric. "Sampling of his vocals are complete. How's the hair going?"

"I'm on it," Emma replied. She then turned to Damon to tie his tie. "Alright. So how long are you going to be in cover?"

"A couple of weeks. Just long enough to go to Uzbekistan and arrange for a nice, natural death."

"I got to stay I'm not really crazy about you leaving for so long."

"We've been apart before."

"Well, not since we've been back here and you proposed again."

"It makes a difference, huh?"

"Surprisingly yes." She kissed him.

"Pitiful," said Markov, awake. "Silas gave you a gift. A new life, a chance to serve your country. And what did you do?"

"Could you stop him from moving?" Ric asked Emma. "He's gonna screw up the scan."

"You betrayed him," Markov continued. "You turned your back on your duty, and for what? To play house? The Syndicate used to stand for something. Now what do they do? They hunt down and kill their own."

"You had a chance to do the right thing and turn yourself in," said Emma, grabbing a syringe filled with a sedative.

"I did the right thing with a little help from Esther."

"Esther?"

"Yeah, she helped me craft a message for you."

"What message?" Emma called Matt down when Markov notified her of a video he had on a private server.

"You know me as Alexi Markov, duly-elected president of Uzbekistan. But for ten years, I was an undercover operative with a covert American black-ops group known as The Syndicate. My public background and my life – it's a lie. I was placed in this country to spy on and disrupt local government through murder, torture, and violence. Just like I spied on and disrupted other governments – some of them US allies," said Markov on video.

"The file has a text attachment. Names, dates, places," said Ric.

"This video gets released to every major media outlet unless I give my people a password every morning. Let me go or in a few hours The Syndicate will be exposed to the world and the full force and fury of the US military will be turned on you."

"That's a nice bluff," said Emma.

"I think he knows it's not a bluff," said Markov, looking at Matt.

"Matt? That's not gonna happen, is it?"

"How did you find out?" Matt asked.

"Esther assumed that the President would have a kill contingency in her back pocket."

"What the hell is this guy talking about?" Ric asked.

"It's okay. I don't want that video out there any more than you do. How would I go back to being president? So I'm gonna make you a deal. Once I sign this military aid agreement with President Spencer, billions of US dollars will be flowing into Uzbekistan. Once I skim my fair share off the top, you'll never hear from me again. So let me go. And hurry up, eh? I got to clean up before I meet the Prez."

"Get him ready for transport back to the hotel," Matt ordered.

"You can't be serious," Emma growled. Matt and Emma left the room. "Tell me this isn't true. That you're playing some kind of con."

"Emma."

"What does he mean that the government will destroy The Syndicate?"

"The President has made it clear she can't let The Syndicate become a liability to her administration. If it does, Special Forces will come in here and wipe us out. And unlike the marines who were set to attack last time, these troops are fully prepped, with complete floor plans and a full roster of every agent and where they live."

"Plans and rosters. How could they get them?"

"I gave it to them. It was the price for sparing this place the first time. Look, the President had to have a contingency."

"A contingency? You're talking mass murder! How could you keep this from me!"

"Because that's my job! Do you want to do it! I didn't think so. We will get Markov another day. But today we have to let him go." Later, Emma dropped Markov back off at his hotel.

"I'll give your best to the President."

"Uzbekistan's army. How big is it?" Emma asked. "Cause you're gonna need every last man to stop me from ripping your throat out."

"Those are big words. And for what? Your pathetic new Syndicate is not worth saving."

Meanwhile, Caroline and Kol were interviewing staff members.

"Now, if we have any more questions, we'll be in touch," said Caroline as an engineer left. "This is going nowhere. Anyone could have gotten to that oxygen tank."

"Don't they restrict access to the sublevels anymore?"

"No. We let people roam around more freely now. "

"Oh good. Cause I may move, you know, get out of here." Caroline chuckled. "Gas attacks, explosions. I was safer in a Russian prison."

"Well, if you hadn't been there today, I would be dead. Actually, I wasn't supposed to be there today. How could anyone have planned for that?"

"You weren't the target."

"Who would want you dead?"

"In here? Who wouldn't? I was a reaper. I killed agents and their loved ones. That's why Silas kept me out of here for so many years. What are you doing?"

"Cross-referencing your mission files with the duty roster. Do you recognize any of these names?"

"Yeah."

Meanwhile, Ric was arguing with Damon in Matt's office.

"No, I'm telling you, I can find the source video. We still have the cryptograph we nabbed from Esther. I can get into any system."

"Ric."

"No! I can get into any system in the world with that thing! Okay? We delete all the copies of the video, neutralize the threat, huh?"

"And Markov makes another video."

"You got a better idea?"

"There aren't any better ideas," said Matt.

"Yes, there is," Emma replied. "We run. Tell everyone in here that their government is trying to kill them, and then we open the barn doors."

"You can't be serious," said Matt. "And have 300 agents panic and go rogue?"

"Or what? Wait to be slaughtered?"

"It's not gonna come to that."

"Can you guarantee that? Are you giving me your word, Matt?" Silence.

"I got another idea," said Damon. "We can go public and we can tell our story to the press. If we go loud enough, the government wouldn't risk touching us. There'd be too much scrutiny."

"No," Matt replied. "It wouldn't work."

"Why not?"

"Because we're vampires, Damon," Emma replied. "There's a reason the President doesn't trust us. If we go public, it's The Cleansing all over again. Maybe they're right. Maybe we all should just roll over and die."

"Emma, that's not true," said Matt. "You just have to trust–"

"You have lost the right to ask for my trust!" Emma stormed out.

"Emma. Emma!"

"Let her be," Damon warned, grabbing his arm. "For your own safety."

Down in interrogation, Caroline was questioning a staff member.

"I'm just putting together an accident report," said Caroline.

"Okay."

"You've been working in Medical this week right?"

"Yeah, I've been upgrading the biofilters."

"Right. Do you know Kol?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kol, the vampire overseeing the repairs in Medical."

"No."

"Kol used to carry out what Silas called 'internal sanctions,' which basically means killing other agents. And I had Kol look through some old files, and he remembered your name from a mission profile a few years ago. There was something about you having a relationship with another agent. I can't remember her name."

"Julia. Her name was Julia."

"Right. Julia."

"I terminated her," said Kol, entering the room.

"Kol, we agreed I would handle this."

"Silas gave the order, but I carried it out. You were right to target me." The man rose from his seat with a knife. "Hold on."

"Carl, drop it!" Caroline yelled, cocking her gun. "Kol, move. Drop the knife, now! Drop the knife!" Emma overheard the ruckus and sped down to the room.

"What the hell?"

"Carl's the one who sabotaged Medical," Caroline replied.

"Do you know what he's done?" Carl asked Emma.

"Yes, I do. Believe me, I do."

"Then you know why he has to die."

"Carl, listen to me. Kol's a different person now."

"No, he's not. He's Syndicate. That part of you…that never changes."

"You want to kill me? Go ahead," Kol replied.

"Kol," Emma warned.

"Cause if we really can't change and you're right, I don't deserve to live. There's a lot of my past that I don't remember, and some people say I should be able to live with that. But I can't. I need to remember the good and especially the bad. Otherwise how am I going to make up for my sins? So yeah. I remember Julia. I remember her apartment. She wore a blue shirt with yellow flowers. She fought. She fought so hard."

"It should have been me. She didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve it," Carl cried.

"No one does. I'm sorry." Carl dropped the knife and Caroline grabbed it. Emma then left. In Matt's office, Damon was arguing with the new Head of The Syndicate while Ric worked on a computer.

"The last Head of The Syndicate lied to everyone. He's dead now," said Damon.

"Silas was lying to protect himself. I was trying to protect all of you."

"And you lost everyone's trust and you let the bad guy get away."

"We've still got another shot at Markov. We've got time until he gets his money, time to figure out how to bring him in."

"No, we don't," said Ric. "I used the cryptograph to get into Markov's personal server. I found this."

"By now, the world knows that President Spencer is dead. What you don't know is why I had to kill her. It was her fear and cowardice that lead directly to the murder of a truly great leader. Silas was a patriot and a visionary. He took me from the gutters and made me into one of the elites. Someone who could do anything. I owe my life to Silas. He's the greatest man I've ever known."

"We got a die-hard Silas loyalist on a suicide run," said Ric. "It's scheduled to hit in six hours. He pre-recorded this."

"He could snap her neck at any second," said Damon. "He became President of Uzbekistan just to get into range."

"Where's Markov now?" Matt asked.

"Motorcade already left the hotel. White House itinerary calls for the greeting ceremony in three hours. What are you doing?" Ric asked.

"Warning the President."

"Whoa! Whoa! No, no, no. You tell her the truth about Markov, she triggers the attack on The Syndicate," Ric warned.

"Then I suggest you follow Emma's advice and begin running," said Matt.

"No one's running. You're right, Ric," said Emma, entering the room.

"Damn straight."

"You tell her the truth, they'll kill us."

"We say nothing, he kills her."

"No. We are going to stop Markov. The Syndicate is going to save the President's life without her even knowing her life was in danger, because she is wrong about us. We have changed."

"Not that I haven't seen you do the impossible, but how exactly are we planning on doing this?" Damon asked.

"We grab him, make the switch, fake his death later."

"But he's headed for the White House now," said Matt.

"So are we."

A few hours later, Matt was walking through the tunnels leading to the White House.

"Okay. I am in the White House security system, courtesy of the cryptograph. I'm gonna miss that little beauty. You sure we gotta give her up?" Ric asked on Matt's com.

"Unless you've got a better idea on how to get an audience with the President on short notice." Matt passed through security.

"Guys, another 500 yards, then turn east," said Ric to Damon and Emma. "That will dump you out in the main artery. It's a good thing I mapped out this level during the underground nuclear reactor situation. 'Yes, Ric. Good job, Ric.'"

"Shut up, Ric," Emma mocked. "Ric, we clear?"

"Good to go."

"Anyone on the radar?"

"No." Damon put the mask on his face, turning into Markov.

"What's Markov's 20?"

"Markov is approaching the diplomatic reception area."

"How's it look?" Damon asked.

"So cool," Emma smiled. Damon then walked into the back entrance of the White House.

"Alright, Damon. Secret Service office is just up to the right," said Ric. "We're a go. Markov is in the office. I'm gonna draw them away with a distraction. You should have a thirty second window of opportunity, Em."

"Copy that. Thirty seconds."

"I've wiped your images off the cameras. Oh no. That's not good. Killer in the White House! Killer in the White House!"

"What happened?" Emma asked.

"He just took out the agents. He's making tracks to the Oval Office and he's armed. Whatever you're gonna do, do it now. We just brought an assassin within fifty yards of the President." As Markov walked down the hall, he encountered Damon.

"Hey, Eddie," Damon smirked. Emma then punched him in the face and sedated him. "They're coming back this way."

"Go. I got him." Damon sat down in a chair as Emma took Markov away.

"They dragged me into a room. It was like the refugee camp. Where am I?" Matt helped Emma escape through the corridors while Damon played his role as the stressed Uzbek President.

"Ric, we're clear," said Emma.

"Copy that."

Ten days later, Damon had returned to The Syndicate back in his own skin so to speak.

"Only ten days after his first visit to the US, President Alexi Markov of Uzbekistan has died from a ruptured brain aneurysm. His unexpected death brings a dramatic end to a growing scandal regarding his recent election. Last week multiple reports of voting improprieties surfaced, calling into question the results that swept him into power," said a news report.

"The scandal was a nice touch," said Matt.

"I figured it would detour anyone from looking to closely into the death," Damon replied.

"Was it hard to find the evidence?"

"Not when you're The President."

"You guys can count the video as dead and buried too," said Ric. "I fed a worm into Markov's servers. Anything with even a whiff of that guy is gone. There might be a few side effects though. The entire country's gonna be without Internet for the next couple of days…possibly Afghanistan too."

"When I agreed to run The Syndicate, I told the President that I couldn't do it without you, all of you," said Matt to Ric, Damon, Emma, and Caroline. "And that is still true. So if I no longer have your support, I will step down immediately, no questions asked."

"This was never about our support," said Emma. "This is about trust, Matt. You didn't have to carry this burden alone."

"If I told you when we started this, that the President had a gun to our heads, how would you have reacted?"

"The real question is how would everyone else in The Syndicate react?" Damon asked.

"Exactly. Under Silas, it was obey or die. I come in and promise a way out. Then people learn there's one small catch."

"There'd be no predicting their actions," said Damon. "A lot of people in here are still volatile."

"Tell me about it," Caroline replied.

"So what, we're just supposed to keep this on the low?" Ric asked.

"For now," Emma replied. "I know we're not all one big, happy family, but we are in this together…for better or worse. I need to believe it's for the better."

"If we continue hunting The Dirty Thirty, we have got to do it smarter, quieter. Forget small footprint. It's got to be no footprint," said Matt. "So can we do this?"

"Let's find out," said Emma.


	29. Fur Lined

"Let's be honest. Sacrifice is for losers. I mean, martyrdom is what it is. It's exciting. Your family's proud of you, also sad. But you're not around to reap the rewards, unless we're talking about the afterlife, which, come on, big roll of the dice. I mean, sure, there could be 77 virgins waiting for you. There could also be one 77-year-old virgin. You never know," said an arms dealer.

"We're not interested in suicide," a client replied.

"Neither am I. That's why I say live longer, stay remote. With the Mark 2 Longarm, you can resolve your differences from the comfort of your living room, remote target from anywhere in the world with an optional sat upgrade. On this model, we've sacrificed nothing, because sacrifice is for losers."

"And what does that make you, Marcel?" Emma asked, walking into the room. The client pulled his gun.

"What's this?"

"Come on, you guys didn't think you were the only ones bidding on this, did you?" Emma smirked.

"That's exactly what you told us."

"You're right. Shoot her," Marcel replied.

"Hey now, I don't even have a gun." She punched the client grabbing his gun and knocking him unconscious. She pointed the gun at Marcel. "Now I do."

"Me too," said Marcel as he pointed his remote-operated machine gun at Emma. "Nice to meet you by the way. Big fan."

"Let's go back to The Syndicate. I'll get you an autograph after I bring you in alive."

"Thanks, but right now I'm a little more concerned about you. That's a Glock 17, ten box mag, sights are off. Classic choice whereas this is a state of the art, air-cooled, 1,200 round per minute, seven six–"

"Seven six two armor-piercing discarding sabot with an automated reload," Damon interrupted, walking in behind Marcel.

"You sold one to Wade. He used it on us."

"Damnit. You know it's guys like that who give us rogue agents a bad name."

"You're the one currently pointing an assault cannon at my wife."

"Wife? Congrats." He changed weapon's direction toward Damon. "I walk, he lives. You keep the longarm. Think of it as an anniversary present. Mazel tov and all that."

"Oh, I don't know. Honey, wasn't there a problem with the override system thing?"

"Yes, yes, Ric found it kind of easy to hack." Damon pulled out his phone and pointed the weapon at Marcel.

"How about that autograph?" Marcel asked.

"How about that anniversary present?" Emma asked.

"Anything you want. Name it."

"Esther." Marcel grimaced. Later, Emma and Damon arrived at The Syndicate with Marcel and met Ric in the garage.

"Do we have a clear path to interrogation?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, no one's going to see you."

"What about the mole hunt?" Damon asked.

"We're closing in. Mole is active. He knows you're back, but not where you went or who you got. Who do you got, by the way?" Ric asked, noticing the hood over Marcel's face. Emma removed the hood.

"Saltzman, hey, how did you manage to hack the longarm?"

"You guys busted your ass to find this guy? The gun guy?"

"He knows where Esther is," Damon replied as they all walked into the elevator. A few minutes later, Damon and Emma were interrogating him.

"I told you. I haven't seen Esther in years. Why do you want her so bad?" Marcel asked.

"She declared war on us," Emma replied.

"VZ-58 super shorties with modifications," Damon added, putting a gun on the table.

"Your modifications. We recovered these on a raid of Esther's safe house in Luxembourg. Once I figured out that you sold them to her, I put you at the top of our list."

"I made a list?"

"Yeah, when you cut out your tracker and refused to return to The Syndicate," Damon replied.

"Silas put me into the world to be his guy who could get anything. Special orders, untraceable gear, stuff that you could drop in the field that wouldn't point back to The Syndicate. The world was my office. Champagne, yachts, and women. So excuse me for not immediately reporting back to the underground bunker in New Jersey when so commanded."

"My heart breaks for you," Emma mocked. "It really does. But if you ever want to see the sun again, you're gonna tell me exactly what I want to know."

"I like the sun."

"Esther. You supply her. I want to know where you're supplying her next and when."

"She moves around. I deal mostly with her boyfriend now. Russian guy."

"Mikael," Damon muttered.

"Always making special orders. Some of the stuff I can't get, some I can. I'm on the trail of a next-gen weapon right now. I was gonna pick it up this week in the Caribbean. St. Lucia."

"And when you get it?" Emma asked.

"I contact Mikael. He tells me where to meet. You grab him, you get to Dragon Lady."

"Why do I smell a catch?" Damon asked.

"Cause there is one." Later, Emma and Damon were in Matt's office, explaining their plan.

"Not a good idea. You just caught this guy," said Matt.

"I know, but this is how we get Esther. Listen, you're going to love it. Ric," Emma called.

"This is what Marcel is buying. Sideswipe. It's a missile jammer."

"Actually, it's a multispectral array. It can trick anything you shoot at it from an RPG to a sidewinder," Emma clarified.

"It jams missiles."

"And other stuff."

"The Pentagon slipped a prototype to the Egyptian army for the war on terror. But this man, General Tariq Rafat, has fled the Egyptian army, and he's taken the Sideswipe with him. He's on his way to St. Lucia to sell it to Marcel," said Damon.

"What's Marcel want with it?" Matt asked.

"Profit. Resell it to Mikael," Emma replied.

"What's Mikael want with it?"

"More profit. He plans to resell it to his old contacts in Russian Defense," Damon answered.

"Which would put their helicopters on par with ours in a heartbeat."

"It'll never get that far. We're gonna run a tight screen on Marcel at the sale. You get Sideswipe, we get Mikael, but most importantly…" Emma began.

"We get Esther. But first, we've got to put this snake back in the pit and give him the real tech, risk it falling into the wrong hands," Matt finished.

"Matt, it's already in the wrong hands. Esther's got a mole in here. She's hunting me. I want her first. The only way to get to her is through Mikael. Those two are attached at the hip."

"Do it."

Later, a tracker had been reinserted inside Marcel.

"You know this tracker thing really ruins my bikini line," said Marcel in Ric's office.

"Damon thought you might try to run when we get to St. Lucia," Emma replied, loading her gun.

"Damon," Marcel scoffed. "So paranoid."

"I know. I told him to relax. Everything's under control." Emma pressed a button on a small silver canister in her hand. Marcel was shocked. Emma and Ric laughed.

"Ah! What was that?"

"I upgraded your tracker with a little voltage spike to the sciatic nerve," Ric laughed.

"Makes running a little bit ouch," Emma added.

"I thought torture was Esther's thing?"

"Your lucky you didn't have one of Esther's trackers. They were paired with kill chips. Drop an agent like that if they got out of line," Ric replied.

"We deactivated them. Every last one of them."

"You really think you can turn The Syndicate around, don't you?"

"And you don't think I can?"

"This place was designed to do some very bad things and keep them secret. Old habits die hard."

The next day, Emma and Marcel were sitting at a restaurant near a beach in St. Lucia.

"So how many guys does the General usually roll with?" Emma asked.

"Tariq? Four or five guys since they have Sideswipe. Shouldn't be too much trouble once they see how relaxed I am chilling with my lady. We got a couple minutes to kill at least." He placed his hand on hers. She did the same and shocked him.

"Ow! Was that necessary?"

"For Damon, it was. He's got your head in a rifle scope right now."

"Easy there, Romeo," said Damon from a rooftop. "Can you believe this guy?"

"I got two suits taking positions on the rooftop of the pavilion," said Caroline. "Tariq must be close. They're packing side arms, maybe a subgun. I don't know if they've got vests but maybe we should switch to AP rounds."

"Caroline, we knew they'd be packing. We're not here to start a fight. Something wrong?"

"Just keep to your target."

"You know, you've been on edge ever since we got off the plane. If you want to talk about it, maybe I could…"

"What? Save me?"

"Help."

"Why do men think they always need to fix or save or help?"

"Look, I have no trouble with you getting Esther or whatever you want as long as I get what I want," said Marcel to Emma.

"And what do you want?"

"After we get Sideswipe and we get Mikael's location, you let me vanish."

"Give me one good reason."

"Because you owe me."

"Ha. Oh, this should be good. How do I owe you, Marcel?"

"You think you're the only person that can track someone through their weapons? When you went rogue and declared war on Silas, you didn't just pick up a 12-gauge from Big 5. That Beretta ARX with the A-cog scope and modified stock for your petite frame. I tracked that particular cocktail through the back channels designed to make it untraceable and it led me to your fabulous loft in Chelsea. Nice pad by the way. My favorite lair of yours by far."

"That ARX I got from Travis in what June 2010? You're telling me you knew where I was the whole time?"

"The dealer's name was Trevor. It was July and I'm telling you I knew where you were the whole time and I never told a soul."

"Why?" A waiter then arrived with drinks. On a napkin was a message for Marcel. _Upstairs._

"It's go time." They walked upstairs and were searched. "Now, now, boys. No need to get paranoid. We're buying goodies today, not carrying them. General, how's that rhino working out for you?"

"Oh, I love it. I plan to order a few more from you."

"Baby, I got to get you one of those. You'll love it."

"I'm good. I don't like guns."

"This gun you're gonna love. Trust me." He winked at her.

"Let's get down to business. We never fully settled on a price." Marcel wrote something down on a napkin and put it in his pocket. Then wrote something else on another napkin and handed it to the General. "I think that's fair." One of Tariq's guards brought a case.

"Nice. Mind if I try."

"I don't have a missile for you to jam, but go ahead." Marcel activated the device and jammed the television in the open room.

"Emma?" Damon asked through the com. "Signal's blocked."

"So is Marcel's tracker."

"That's not good."

"We good?" Tariq asked.

"Just one problem. She's an Interpol agent," said Marcel. "I'm under duress and this meeting's about to get busted right now."

"Son of a bitch," Emma growled.

"Take her!" Tariq growled. Emma fought off Tariq and his men just as Damon and Caroline arrived. When she finished off her two goons, she took off her shoes and went after Marcel. All she found was the gun Marcel had stolen from Tariq.

"He has the Sideswipe," said Damon, catching up.

"And we don't have him," Emma sighed. When the three of them returned to The Syndicate, Marcel's tracker was back online.

"Where is he?" Caroline asked.

"Southern Spain," Ric replied.

"We can have a team out there in under seven hours," said Matt.

"Forget it. He won't be there for more than one. He's probably cutting out his tracker as we speak," Emma countered.

"So we didn't get Mikael. He got the Sideswipe. He's about to deliver it God knows where and Marcel is out in the wind."

"We know where they met. We know Mikael is in Spain. Esther's probably there too. Let's go now," said Caroline.

"They won't be there. They'll move on after Marcel warns them," Damon sighed. "He's Team Esther, remember?"

"No, he's Team Marcel. He made that very clear," Emma said.

"He left us at ground zero. Just a gun," said Damon.

"Wait a minute," Emma realized. "The gun." Emma went downstairs and reached the gun. Inside one of the chambers was the napkin Marcel had written on. "Son of a…you get what you want, I get what I want. Krilov Industries."

"You owe me twice," Ric read the note. "What does that mean?"

"Krilov. Where is that?" Damon asked.

"Mikael's headed to Romania. We grab him. He will lead us to Esther." Later, the group was checking out satellite images of Krilov Industries.

"The factory Marcel told us about is abandoned which means it's gonna be easier to raid, but we need to grab Mikael and the Sideswipe before the Russians get there," said Damon.

"I can get an Alpha team in there. Damon, you'll have to guard that door. Caroline, we'll need you on the roof."

"Got it," Caroline replied.

"Ric, the mole cannot get wind of this. Where are you on the hunt?"

"Tracking the source has been tough. I did solve a big piece of the puzzle though."

"What?" Damon asked.

"The messages aren't being sent in real time. They're on a thirty minute delay."

"Guys, we just intercepted a video call on our private relay," said Matt, entering the briefing room. "It's Esther. Start a trace."

"Futile trace is already in progress," Ric quipped before launching the trace.

"Hello, Emma. I'm sorry I missed you in Luxembourg, but I had urgent business elsewhere."

"Oh no doubt. You needed to find some rat trap to hole up in."

"My new home is quite comfortable. Thank you. In fact, I have my very first houseguest right here. A friend of yours. Say hello to Marcel." They saw she'd been torturing him.

"He's no friend of mine."

"Marcel has been quite reticent when it comes to you, specifically what you two talked about back in The Syndicate."

"It wasn't really that interesting."

"Then this should be easy. You tell me what Marcel is holding back, and I give him the gift of a quick death or I find out the truth my way. Your choice."

"Do me a favor, Esther. Keep those ropes tight. He's slippery. Cut it." Ric ended the call.

"You could've told her something false and spared him the pain," said Matt.

"That pain is gonna buy him time. I'm going after him. Where?"

"Tracker says he's still in Spain. Andalucia," Ric replied.

"That's probably where Esther is," said Caroline.

"Correction that's where Esther's trap is," Damon argued. "She's luring you there. That's why she kept his tracker online."

"Damon, I owe him."

"He made his choices."

"I know. That's why I got to go get him."

"Emma, you know I can't authorize this. I won't stop you, but I can't send a team with you," said Matt.

"I know. I'm going alone."

"No, you're not," Damon replied.

"Okay, you can't be in Spain and Romania at the same time," Matt argued. "Your plan to get Mikael and the Sideswipe is good. You designed it. Who's gonna carry it out?"

"I'll do it," said Caroline. "I can prep a team, be wheels up in an hour. I am just dying to say hello to Mikael."

"All right. It's decided. Let's do it." The two women left and Matt looked at Damon.

"I know. I'll make sure they're covered. Both of them." A few minutes later, Ric was in his office.

"All right. Filter program on. Server protocols active. Flux capacitor fluxing. Ready. Let's see your moley ass get out of this one." He activated a program. "Got ya! Oh yeah." He called Jenna.

"Where have you been?" she answered.

"I am hot on the mole. Turns out they were sending messages on a thirty minute delay."

"What about the source terminal?"

"That has been a little bit trickier." Ric's tracking program then pulled up Jenna's terminal as the source of the messages. His girlfriend was the mole. "Ah. Using a new filter program that hunts down rerouting algorithms. Found the last relay, but it didn't find the source yet."

"Where was the relay?"

"Terminal on Sublevel Nine. It just said 'Emma has left. Destination unknown.'"

"We should investigate that terminal and see what we can find."

"Yeah. I'll go down there with you."

"Don't let anyone see you in transit just to be safe." Ric ended the call, not sure what to do. He then left his office and met Jenna in the hallway.

"It's just up there," he said. Jenna opened the panel.

"Is this the terminal the mole used?"

"You tell me." He pulled out his gun.

"Alaric."

"How long? Since I've been here?"

"Please."

"Since we were together? Is that why we were together?"

"Don't."

"Was any of it real, what happened between us? Any of it?" Jenna began to walk to him, but he pointed his gun at her. "Take one more step and I will kill you."

"Then do it. I'm dead anyway. Esther. She reactivated my kill chip on my way home to my apartment three weeks ago. A van pulled up and this woman grabbed me. Anne. She was a Cleaner. They threw me in the back of the van and–"

"Stop. Stop it! I don't believe you."

"She showed me the uplink."

"Esther's not here. So she can't know if you asked for help, which you never did!"

"There's someone else inside. She told me there was someone else and that they'd be watching and in The Syndicate, there's always someone watching."

"You can't know that's true."

"I can't know that it isn't. She has me restricted. I have to send her an update every two hours. I haven't slept the night in weeks. If I even walk in the direction of Medical, which Esther gas-bombed as a warning to me, her spy will see and tell her and she will trigger the chip and I will drop–"

"Okay. All right."

"I wanted to tell you. I was so scared. I was scared that they would see it on my face and they would know."

"Okay. All right. We can beat this. When my people get back from overseas…"

"No."

"Yes. I'm gonna fill them in quietly."

"No, you can't tell anyone. It could be anyone."

"It's not Emma, okay? It's not Damon or Caroline."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

"You don't know. You don't know," she cried.

"Okay, all right. You need to calm down. If there is another spy, they can't see you like this. They can't know anything's wrong. They have to think you're still with the program. When do you have to send your next update?"

"12 minutes."

"All right. We give them something. Something true but low value. That'll buy us some time. And then we will figure a way out of this." They hugged. Meanwhile, Emma and Damon were outside a church in Spain.

"No, we're in Romania. She's in Spain. Yeah, that's right. Do you have the coordinates? No, no, trust me. Thank you," said Damon, ending a call.

"All good?" Emma asked.

"Let's hope so. You?"

"I will be. Whatever happens I'm glad you're here."

"Please, you know I love Spain."

"I know I pushed too hard on this."

"All right, then do me one favor. If Esther really is here, push harder. This time, kill the bitch." The two entered the church and went into the tunnels underneath it.

"Where is she?" Emma asked, seeing Marcel.

"She's gone," Marcel replied. Emma then noticed a bomb underneath Marcel's chair.  
"You really shouldn't have come for me."

"How's it wired? Pressure plates?" Damon asked.

"No. No, it's remote. She wanted to be the one." They saw a camera. Esther's face then came across a laptop screen.

"Emma, so glad you could make it. And I see you've brought your husband. What a nice surprise."

"We're not here to chat," said Emma.

"Well, then let's start the lesson, shall we?"

"If we get any closer, we're in the blast radius," Damon whispered to Emma.

"Emma, just go. Go!" Marcel yelled.

"There's no way to disarm the bomb on site," said Esther.

"What's the point of a test I can't pass?" Emma asked.

"It's not a test. It's a lesson. The first of many. This one is simple. To stop me, you're going to have to sacrifice the people you care about, even the ones you care about just a little, like Marcel there. As a bonus, your friends in Romania are about to suffer as well."

"I'm sorry. I told her," Marcel admitted.

"If you really wanted to teach me something, why aren't you here?" Emma asked Esther.

"It's not in the lesson plan, not this time. I'll give you twenty seconds."

"Emma, we have to go."

"I'm not leaving."

"Listen to Damon. She will kill you," said Marcel. "And believe it or not that would upset me very much. Please, go."

"No. I get it now…the lesson. The things we care about can hurt us, so the trick is not to care." Emma walked toward Marcel.

"Emma, no!" Damon yelled.

"Let's see how well you learn," said Emma. "What are you waiting for? Do it! Do it!" The beeping from the bomb stopped and Esther's image phased out of the laptop.

"You're one crazy bitch you know that?" Marcel asked. Emma laughed. "Why'd you do this for me? Why'd you risk your life?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't," said Emma as she and Damon helped Marcel out of the church. "Esther wants to teach me a lesson, she can't do it if I'm dead. She cares too much. She's not done with me yet." Later, Matt and Emma spoke with Marcel in interrogation.

"So what are we looking at? A farm in Iowa, maybe something by the beach in Maine?" Marcel asked.

"We were wondering after St. Lucia and Romania if you think you can still operate your business," said Matt.

"It'll take some damage control, some fence-mending, but yeah. Absolutely."

"Consider yourself reinstated. Help us get what we need to run Operations and shut the doors on The Syndicate." He handed him a folder.

"What's this?"

"It's a list of organizations and individuals with whom you can no longer do business, not as a sanctioned American agent," said Emma.

"It's like everyone I ever sold…I like a challenge."

"Good. We'll be in touch." Matt shook Marcel's hand before leaving the room.

"What?" Emma asked, noticing Marcel staring at her.

"I knew you were warming up to me."

"I knew you'd pick a side. Hey, what's the real reason you didn't give me up to Silas?"

"You were doing the right thing. Let's just say that you remind me of someone." Emma smiled and left.

"Another rogue in from the road and Caroline succeeded in taking Sideswipe off the black market for good," said Matt in briefing.

"Any update on the mole?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting close," Ric replied.

"What about Esther? Anything theories on her next move?" Caroline asked.

"Yes. Before today, I thought that Esther just wanted me dead because I was the obstacle to her plans," said Emma, entering the room. "But that's not it. I am her plan. She doesn't want to kill me. She wants me to suffer and that means destroying everything I care about. I'm not her target. All of you are."


	30. The High Road

In Manhattan, Emma walked across the street, cautious of her surroundings. She walked down an alley, feeling someone following her. She hid behind a van and grabbed the man who had been following her, choking him with her bag strap and pushing him into the wall.

"I can't breathe, Emmy," Ric choked.

"Nerd?" She released her grip on him.

"Are you ever not armed? Seriously?"

"Why are you shadowing me?"

"I had to make sure nobody else was."

"Okay."

"You said you felt like you were being watched for like a month now."

"Yeah, but I haven't spotted anyone till now."

"There's a good reason for it. Trust me. Jenna is the mole."

"What?"

"She needs your help. About three weeks ago, Esther's cleaner grabbed her coming out of her apartment. They reactivated her kill chip. Now if she doesn't update them every two hours, she's considered compromised."

"She couldn't take ten minutes to ask for help? We can remove her chip in Medical."

"No, no, no. There's a second mole. Someone whose sole job it is to watch her, make sure she stays in line."

"My God. She has access to you, to us."

"Esther wants her to focus on personal dirt. She doesn't care about the missions."

"She's playing the long game. She wants to see me suffer. You did the right thing telling me, but we gotta tell the others."

"No, no, no. I told Jenna that…"

"I'll keep it quiet. Trust me. I promise."

"Okay."

"In the meantime, make sure Jenna plays along."

Meanwhile in the park, Caroline ran into Damon as she grabbed a cup of coffee at a street vendor shop.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked.

"It's a nice day. I took a walk. It's a little warm to wear that jacket, huh?" Damon asked playfully tugging at the jacket pocket.

"Not really. Were you following me?"

"Should I be?"

"No. I just…lately I've been feeling like someone's been watching me."

"We all have. We're letting Esther's mind games get to us. Or maybe you just took too many of these." Damon pulled out a pill bottle. "Serafim, huh? I thought I saw the signs on you a few days ago."

"Give it back, Damon." He grabbed her hand.

"Why? They're not yours. They're the Syndicate's. It's an experimental painkiller designed for combat use and is a derivative of Red Eye. Not recommended for ex-drug addicts."

"I was only taking it for my vervain poisoning. I wanted to help out."

"Help? This doesn't just put your life in danger, Caroline. This puts my life in danger. Emma's. And anyone who relies on you to shoot straight and back them up in the field." Damon's cellphone rang. "It's Emma."

"Look, Damon. You're right, okay? I'll stop just please don't tell Emma. Please." Damon answered his phone.

"Hey. I'm on my way." He ended the call. "We're needed back at the office."

"Thank you."

"Don't. I made the decision to talk to you before Emma because this would hurt her more than anyone on account of everything she's gone through for you. So you are gonna be the one that tells her. In the meantime, you're gonna clean up and you're not going back out into the field until that happens."

"What did Emma want?" Caroline's phone then rang.

"Looks like we're both going to find out."

In The Syndicate, Matt was barking out orders.

"All right, people, we need to up our game. Let's close the net. Now we know that she was in Luxembourg three weeks back and Andalucia six days ago. We need to figure out where she's going next. Let's go! Jenna, where's the list of her confiscated inventory?"

"Almost done."

"We need it now. Bring it into Briefing."

"Yes, sir." Matt walked up the stairs to the Briefing Room.

"That should buy us some time."

"You call that believable? 'Okay, people, we need to up our game,'" Ric mocked.

"Ric, calm down," Emma replied as Jenna walked into Briefing.

"It sounded fake. We should be doing this in Matt's office anyway."

"Then I couldn't be here. Your fake inventory, sir."

"Are you sure there's a second mole?"

"No, but I can't take the risk."

"Let's start going over our options," said Emma.

"Surgery, remove the chip," Damon suggested.

"We lost our best surgeon in Esther's attack on Medical. Surgery takes six hours minimum," Ric countered.

"And I have to check in every two," Jenna added.

"Which rules out a trip to an outside hospital as well," Matt sighed.

"Why can't someone else check in for you?" Caroline asked.

"The second mole would see and alert Esther."

"What about deactivation?" Damon asked.

"Three hours. Laparoscopic procedure. Portable equipment," Ric replied.

"Still gotta buy the extra hour," said Caroline.

"Didn't Esther deactivate your kill chip once? How'd that work?" Matt asked Caroline.

"She killed me with magic. I was clinically deceased for thirty-two seconds. It fooled the chip. We could find a witch to do it."

"I'm not getting killed to save my life. I have to get back to my station."

"Wait, there is another way. We kill the threat at its source. We kill Esther," said Emma.

"How?"

"She relies on you for intel. We set a trap. End this for good."

"No, no, no. That means leaving her kill chip active. This is about how we deactivate it," said Ric.

"But this could be the only–"

"No! No, we're not risking her life any further," Ric interrupted Matt.

"It's not your life, Ric. It's mine. Everyone in here is trying to save me and all I've done is jeopardize your lives by not asking for help sooner. Besides, I want revenge for what she's done to me. Let's bait the bitch." Jenna walked away.

"I knew I liked her," Emma smirked. A few minutes later, Jenna walked down into the garage.

"You wanted to see me?" Jenna asked.

"Yes, I did. What do you think?" Ric asked, motioning to an Aston Martin he was working on.

"It's nice."

"Nice? This is a hydraulic battering ram with spike deployment. We've got NOS booster, onboard radar, oil slick. See those headlights right there? They launch laser-guided missiles."

"Really?"

"No, but how cool would that be if they did? That's why we all gotta get on board and convince Matt it's worth spending the cash." Suddenly, Emma and Damon came out of the elevator arguing.

"Damon, spare me the Psych 101, okay?"

"Well, she's all you ever talk about at home, here. It's always about Esther. I'm getting sick of this…" They noticed Jenna and Ric.

"Awkward," Ric muttered.

"We were just leaving," said Jenna. As she walked away, she pulled off one of her earrings, featuring a camera, set it on the table, and left with Ric.

"See this is exactly what I'm talking about. We can't get a moment alone in here."

"Is this what's wrong or is there something else bothering you?"

"Why does there need to be something else?"

"Because lately it feels like you're holding back, suppressing something."

"No, no, no. The only one who's holding back is you. You are holding us back. Once we got rid of Silas, we were supposed to be done with this place, but now with your obsession."

"No!"

"Yes, with your obsession, you are blind to the problem in front of you."

"What?" Emma then turned to look directly at the camera. Jenna and Ric were behind it, having watched the entire scene. "Are we done yet?"

"Camera stopped ten seconds ago. I just didn't want you to break character," said Ric.

"Are we sure this is gonna work?"

"You and me fighting? Esther catnip."

"I will compress and upload the video to her and then I will tell her that Damon has gone off to the bar to drown his sorrows in alcohol."

"No, send the video, let it marinate, and then on your next update, let her know where Damon will be drinking."

"And we're positive Esther's gonna show up?" Ric asked.

"I don't know. Could be she sends Anne," said Damon.

"She sends Anne, we follow her to Esther. Either way, we have to plant the bait so let's get started. We're on a schedule. Go." Jenna left.

"Hey, guys, I just wanted to say how much it means to me that…"

"Hey, nerd, can we do this later? You have another mole to ID, Matt and Caroline are waiting, Phase Two."

"Right. Cool. You're awesome." He left.

"What?" Emma asked, noticing Damon's sullen expression.

"Let's not fight like that."

"Aww." They kissed. When Ric walked into Ops, he sent Matt a pointed look.

"Phase Two. Whac-a-mole. Everybody listen up! We've got our first lead on Esther!" Matt yelled, walking out of Briefing. "With your help, we can finish this. Caroline is gonna bring you up to speed."

"Based on our intel, we believe Esther has a safe house within a two-mile radius of Hofgarten. I want everyone to pool their resources and do whatever you can to close the circle even further." Caroline then walked into Briefing. They pulled up thermal images of each of the Techs.

"Okay, Stations 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 13."

"That many people spiked at the mention of Esther?"

"Yeah, now let's narrow it down even further. See who reacts to Jenna reacting." Ric looked at Jenna. She left her chair. Ric sent Matt the new results. "And then there were four. Better get going and prep the next phase."

"On it." Caroline walked into the Server Room and cut one of the electrical lines. Smoke billowed out of the server. "It's Care. Ops, we're a go."

A few minutes later, Ric walked into his office and found Jenna looking at a monitor.

"Anything yet?" he asked.

"She should have responded by now. What if she knows?"

"She doesn't." A message came through.

"Wait."

"Dealtown Shoe Outlet?"

"Esther encodes her orders on regular websites using steganography." Jenna launched a program to decode the message. A photo of Caroline and Damon appeared. The two took the information to Emma who was in Matt's office with Damon, Caroline, and Matt.

"Why would Esther have Jenna watching the two of you?" Emma asked.

"She must have had someone following us," said Damon.

"Us? Both of you?" Ric asked.

"We ran into each other this morning."

"Damon, stop," Caroline sighed. "Emma, a couple weeks ago, I started using again."

"What?"

"Damon found out and confronted me."

"She was supposed to tell you."

"She was supposed to?"

"But it wasn't the right time. This thing with Jenna..." Caroline began.

"Using what?" Matt asked.

"Yes, using what, Caroline?" Emma asked, upset.

"Serafim. For my vervain poisioning. It helped me retrieve the cryptograph, okay? If I had told you, you would have had me benched."

"You're damn right I would have!"

"Emma," Damon began.

"No, you I understand even less. A member of our team is unstable and you don't warn me, you don't warn Matt?"

"I wanted to avoid this type of overreaction."

"Overreaction? She is an addict, Damon!"

"All right. Guys, guys, stop!" Ric yelled. "Listen to yourselves. This is what Esther wants, the lies, the blame."

"The fracture," said Matt. "Ric's right, we set out to fake a fight for Esther and here we are in a real one."

"This was my fault so I'll stand down."

"No," Emma replied. "We are going to adjust and we are going to work with what we have. We have confirmation that Esther is tailing us. We've suspected it for weeks."

"I didn't see anyone and I was looking," said Damon.

"If you were surveilled, it had to be at extremely long range," said Matt.

"Or extremely close," Emma realized.

"Esther has another rogue on her side," Damon sighed.

"Shit. The Watchman," said Ric.

"Who's The Watchman?" Caroline asked.

"He's a Syndicate legend and now our ticket to Esther," said Emma. "She thinks something's going on between the two of you. Let's give the lady what she wants." Damon pulled up some surveillance footage of the park he'd been at earlier with Caroline.

"This was taken from a park cam earlier today. Here's me and Caroline and here's The Watchman."

"How can you be sure that's him?" Matt asked.

"Because Ric ran facial recog through all the surrounding cameras. He was able to track everyone from the coffee cart about twelve blocks. This guy vanished in one," said Emma.

"Vanished?" Caroline asked.

"That's his specialty. The Watchman was The Syndicate's close surveillance expert. He was able to change his appearance at a moment's notice. He made it a habit. His job was to surveil a target without making them aware they were even being followed. Only Silas and Esther knew his name and what he really looked like," said Damon.

"What's in his file?"

"Never had one," said Emma.

"His other job was to investigate Syndicate agents. He did routine checks on everyone, observed them in their cover lives and made sure they didn't break any rules," Damon added.

"Which is why he only reported to Silas and Esther," said Matt.

"He's about to write his last report," Emma replied.

"I'm still not sure about this. You want Damon and I to pretend to rendezvous in some nightclub," said Caroline.

"Jenna will feed the address to Esther. This is a photo op. Wherever you go, The Watchman will follow and I will follow him. When he makes contact with Esther, we trace his communications and zero her location."

"What about the second mole? They're still in play," said Damon.

"Ric's got that under control." Ric had left several minutes earlier and met the four mole suspects in the Server Room.

"Okay, people. Look alive."

"What are we doing down here?" asked one of the techs.

"What's with all the questions? Halon system went off, covered the tower, fried eight of the nodes."

"Did it malfunction?"

"No. Our fire prevention system suddenly became self-aware and decided to attack us with whipped cream. That's a joke. Anyway, the point is we're in the middle of the hunt for Esther. We need to be up and running at full capacity. So I want each of you to choose two nodes and rebuild them from the ground up."

"That'll take hours."

"Then you better stop whining and get to work. Cause none of you are leaving until the job's done. Enjoy." Ric left.

At the club after Damon kissed Caroline, Emma spotted The Watchman. She walked out of the club and followed him.

"Ric, do you have an image?"

"Yeah, but it's not gonna do much good. He's gonna change up his look to screw with my street cam algorithms. I'm gonna have to do this manual. Call it out."

"Get ready to adjust your image for tan raincoat." She followed The Watchman through an alley and coffee shop. "Ric, I lost him. 12th and Bennett. Probably went out the front."

"Got him. He just hopped in a cab off Bennett. Following him now." Emma hailed a cab. "He's at 69th just off Amsterdam Ave." Emma saw him walk into his apartment.

"523 69th Street, Apartment One."

"Got it. He's transmitting directly to an IP address in Quebec City. Pulling the coordinates now. He's all yours." Emma burst into the apartment.

"Hey. Ready for your close-up?" Emma super-sped and threw him onto his stomach on the couch. "Ric, got some trash for pickup." Later, Emma arrived back at The Syndicate.

"Who watches The Watchman?" Emma smiled.

"Did you kick him in the peeing toms?" Damon asked.

"Yeah. Speaking of, there are a lot more photos on this than we actually thought?" Emma asked, holding a laptop.

"Eww. What?" Caroline asked.

"Well, he's got a couple shots of you proposing to me in Tribeca."

"What?"

"Mm-hmm. After I took ten showers, I was thinking it might actually be a nice keepsake. Can you give this to Matt?"

"Absolutely." Caroline left with the laptop.

"It's a two-hour flight to Quebec City. You can change on the plane," said Damon.

"Damon, do you think I'm obsessed?"

"What?"

"With getting Esther."

"That was our fake fight."

"I'm having trouble keeping track."

"Esther knows how to hurt us more than anyone else. I know that I won't be able to breathe easy until she's gone."

"I just have this feeling that something's gonna happen. Something."

"To Jenna? Hey. Emma, we can't control the future. What's important is whatever happens we face it together. That's all that matters to me." He kissed her. "Let's finish this."

Later, Ric walked into his office to see Matt and Caroline.

"We can't wait any longer," said Ric. "We've got to start this thing now."

"Emma and Damon aren't in position yet," said Matt. "They're an hour outside Esther's location."

"Deactivation takes three hours. Let's get this thing going."

"We haven't ID'd the second mole yet," said Caroline.

"We can't wait for that. What if the mole has a check-in time? We don't know. We don't even know if the mole is real. All I know, the kill chip is active. I need to make it the other way."

"Where do you want to do this?" Matt asked.

"Sub-level 12."

"Whoa, Esther's old torture room?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, nobody goes down there. We won't be bothered."

"How long will our suspects be occupied?" Matt asked.

"Four hours tops."

"Do it."

"If anyone leaves, I'll deal with them. I've got your back," said Caroline. A few minutes later, Jenna and Ric were in the elevator.

"Okay, I'm freaking out. Why are you not freaking out?" Ric asked.

"Because that won't help. I'm focusing on the plan."

"There's gotta be another way we can do this that doesn't involve risking your life."

"We've already narrowed down the list of suspects to four. They're under surveillance so you can finally disable this damn thing in my head."

"How can you be so sure this is gonna work?"

"I'm about to let you poke at my brain with a needle. Apparently I trust you." They then arrived at Sublevel 12.

"All right. Make yourself comfortable." Once she was seated in the chair, Ric prepped his materials. "I know it looks scary, but actually it's a very a simple procedure. Okay. Just relax, stay calm, take deep breaths. This is just a local anesthetic. A slight pinch. Now hold very still."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Saltzman."

"I'm supposed to keep asking you questions to make sure your brain's functioning properly. I think the sarcasm quadrant is working just fine."

"Ask away."

"Are you serious?"

"Anything to distract me."

"Okay. Um, what are you gonna be for Halloween this year?"

"A princess."

"Leia?"

"Zelda."

"I knew you were gonna be Zelda."

"Then why did you say Leia?"

"Because it distracted you, didn't it? Hard part's over." In Ric's office, Caroline noticed Agent Baker acting suspiciously and leaving the Server Room. She called the room.

"Server Room."

"Yes, this is Caroline. Is Baker there? I've got a question."

"You just missed him. He's headed to Medical. Accidentally cut himself." Caroline ended the call and went after Baker. After not finding him in Medical, she went down to Sublevel 12. Meanwhile, Damon and Emma had just arrived at Esther's house in Quebec City.

"I don't see anything," said Damon.

"Movement, second left."

"I can't get a clear shot. We're gonna have to go inside, up close and personal."

"We can't risk breach until Jenna's chip is deactivated. Ric, how is she?"

"47% and climbing."

Back at The Syndicate, Caroline ran into Baker.

"Lost?" she asked.

"Cut myself. Going to Medical."

"You're about 12 floors off. What does Esther have on you?"

"What does she have? She has my loyalty. She's always had it. You're the traitor here and traitors die." Caroline slapped his phone out of his hand just as he was about to send a message to Esther. She knocked him out with a punch, grabbing his phone.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Ric asked as Caroline entered the room.

"It was Baker in the Server Room with the candlestick."

"Baker, really? Dude had skills."

"I never liked him," Jenna scoffed.

"Guy was a douche bag. You should call Emma, tell her the good news."

"Is it green for Esther?"

"We're at 72%." Caroline sent the information to Emma.

"So the mole is down, but the chip is active?" Emma asked.

"Correct."

"Where are we at?"

"72%."

"Minutes, Caroline."

"Ric, how many minutes?"

"Five, six."

"Five or six."

"Is it five or is it six?"

"Emma, look. She's out of pocket."

"Change of plan. She's on the move. We're on the move. Damnit." They got in their car and followed Esther.

"You're too close," said Damon.

"We can't lose her."

"Emma, chip is down," said Caroline. "We're green to strike." Emma sped up as Damon rolled down the window. He cocked his gun and shot at the car. Anne launched a grenade. The grenade exploded under their car, flipping it over. Emma got out of her side and went to Damon.

"Damon, are you okay?"

"My arm's stuck."

"I can't get a good grip," said Emma trying to lift the car up. It was too wet out. Anne went to attack Emma, but noticing no one was around, Emma ripped the Cleaner's heart out. Esther was shocked. Emma ran back to Damon when she noticed the car was catching on fire. Esther used the opportunity to get away.

"Emma, just go."

"The tank's gonna blow."

"I now, I want you to live. Just go please."

"I'm not going."

"I love you. Damnit, just go!"

"I love you too." Emma grabbed her knife and cut his hand off. He screamed in pain and she wrapped her scarf around his wound. "Damon, we gotta go, it's gonna blow." They ran away from the car just as it exploded.


	31. Breaking My Own Heart

"Wow," said Emma as she ran her hand across Damon's new robotic hand.

"You want to see wow?" Alaric asked. "EMG's picking up myoelectric feedback. Your brain's talking to it. Show her. Go ahead. Make a fist." Damon moved one of the fingers. "We can rebuild him. We have the technology." Emma and Damon looked at him blankly. "Steve Austin? _Six Million_—Forget it. Vampires. No sense of cultural references."

"You said it would close," Damon growled, still trying to make a fist, but not being very successful.

"I said it would take time. It's only been three weeks since the accident and one day with this thing. I thought you guys could heal."

"Not limbs, idiot! I thought this was cutting edge."

"Sharpest edge we got right now. Just gotta figure out what your trigger is."

"What trigger?" Emma asked.

"Emotional trigger. Some people…they get pissed off, the prosthetic reacts. Some people just need a laugh." Damon groaned in pain.

"Damon?" Emma asked, concerned.

"No, I'm good. I'm good."

"Phantom pain," Alaric explained to Emma. "The body thinks the hand's still there. When it remembers, it's not…"

"I get a friendly reminder," Damon gasped.

"What about your meds?"

"I'm not taking them anymore. I don't need the crutch."

"Ric, could you give us a second?"

"Yeah, sure." He left the room and Emma closed the door.

"Damon, I know you can handle the physical pain, but there are other things to work through."

"What's it look like I'm doing?"

"We never talked about what happened."

"We were attacked by our enemy. I was wounded, just like any other soldier is wounded in combat."

"Wounded. Are you forgetting how it happened?"

"Of course not. Emma, we're at war. Bad things happen during war. No one knows that better than us."

"You know what I know? I've been sleeping alone for the past three weeks. I wish you'd come home."

"Soon. How's it going upstairs?"

"It's quiet."

"Good. Maybe the next time something pops up I'll be ready to get out there with you."

Later, Emma was in briefing with Matt and Kol.

"Liam was a Syndicate cleaner. Now he's a rogue entrepreneur. He's been hiring himself out."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Kol joked to Emma.

"A few weeks ago, a program I designed with Ric picked up a pattern of Cleaner-type behavior in the news. It all pointed to this man. Guillermo Garza, a major player in the Sinaloa cartel. We just intercepted a call. Garza's top crew has barricaded itself inside a hacienda outside Nuevo Laredo. He's sending Liam to help."

"During a standoff?" Emma asked.

"Right now which is why I want you two…" Matt turned and saw Damon walk in past the other agents. They all stopped what they were doing.

"Take a good look everyone. If you are nice to me, I'll even let you touch it, but no high fives." They laughed. "Back to work!"

"Damon, how are you feeling?" Matt asked.

"Getting there. I figured now was as good a time as any."

"Absolutely," Emma agreed.

"Let me guess. Our new rogue is a Cleaner."

"One of the best unfortunately," said Kol.

"Emma, Kol, you need to be wheels up in 15," said Matt. "Timetable is tight on this one."

"Can I help?" Damon asked.

"Damon should come with us," said Emma. "We need the support now that Caroline is benched." Emma and Kol walked into the armory and geared up.

"Damon seems to be taking it pretty well," said Kol. Emma was silent. "He's not?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

"That was convincing."

"I'm worried about him. He's keeping it all inside."

"That's Damon. He's a little uptight." Emma shot him a look. "I'm just saying."

"You don't know him like I do. When I met Damon, his family had been slaughtered. He buried his pain so deep no one even knew it was there. When it finally came out…he almost killed himself. If it hadn't been for my blood in his system, he'd be dead."

A few hours later, Kol pulled up a van to the house the cartel crew was holed up in. Emma and Damon were in the back.

"We're here. Let's go make some donuts." Damon and Emma shot him a look. "It's just a thing I say." Damon rolled his eyes. They walked out of the car and Damon went to grab a badge in his pocket. "This is gonna be tough to do left-handed." The police approached him. "DEA. We hear you have some of Guillermo Garza's men inside."

"We didn't call you."

"We're that good," said Emma.

"And we're here to help. What's the update?" Damon asked.

"They ordered a pizza and took the deliveryman hostage." Damon looked at Emma and the policeman left.

"Probably halfway through cleaning the scene," said Kol.

"We can't draw him out," said Damon.

"Can't start a gunfight with all these itchy trigger fingers out there," Emma added.

"Two person stealth approach. We could do that from right here," said Damon.

"Emma's right. They've got the place surrounded," said Kol.

"DEA, remember? I can move all the other people to the opposite side of the perimeter."

"Move them?" Kol asked.

"Small footprint, Kol. We go in quietly. We grab Liam. We disappear." A few minutes later, Damon was loading a silencer onto a gun. "Okay, I've moved the Federales away from the house. After insertion, make sure one of you get Liam to a choke point, flush him out to the other."

"What are you going to do?" Emma asked.

"Stay in the van. I'll monitor with infrared."

"Okay." Kol and Emma left. "What do you see?"

"Three heat sigs," Damon replied. Two are fading. Only one is up and moving. He's in the kitchen."

"Do you want us to move in south or vector from both sides?"

"Dear, you don't need to include me just because I'm stuck in a van."

"Am I that transparent? Sorry."

"It's all good. Make your approach as you see fit."

"We're gonna split up. Kol will take the kitchen. I'll head east to flush him out."

"That sounds like a fantastic plan," said Liam on their com line. "Don't all talk at once or didn't you think I was smart enough to hijack your communications."

"We're not impressed," said Damon.

"Damon, I heard you and your girl were running the show, but, Kol…what are you doing here?"

"Cleaner class reunion."

"I thought I saw you blow a gasket on the news, bank robbery or some such thing. You never did have any self-control."

"And you were always arrogant."

"Often arrogant, never wrong."

"Well, you're the one who's surrounded," said Damon.

"What's the first rule of cleaning? Anyone?" Liam asked as Kol made a signal to Emma.

"Why don't you tell us?" Damon asked.

"Before it gets clean, it gets messy. Very, very messy." Liam attacked Emma, but she grabbed a piece of wood and hit him in the head. Kol then heard rapid beeping.

"Emma, clear!" Emma stabbed the man she was fighting and Kol threw her down just as a bomb went off.

"Damon, target's headed your way!" Emma yelled. Damon shot at him, but missed.

"Damnit."

Later, the team returned to Matt's office.

"I don't get it. There was one way out. You didn't see him?" Kol asked Damon.

"He had our com. He must've heard Emma try and warn me." He didn't tell him his robotic hand had malfunctioned.

"How'd he get the drop on us in the first place?" Matt asked.

"I was in the van. Emma consulted with me about an approach. I wasn't there. Tactical missteps could've been made on the ground."

"Like what? Getting blown up!" Kol yelled.

"Kol," Emma scolded.

"Wait. Hold on. I wanna know what the hell you think a misstep is," said Kol.

"You sure you didn't see him?" Emma asked.

"I don't know what happened."

"It doesn't matter," said Matt. "Liam is still out there. He's not gonna leave any loose ends."

"The laptop," said Emma.

"What laptop?"

"He tried to take one from the scene."

"Why didn't we take it?"

"Got buried under the blast. We had to go. Real DEA showed up."

"Which is why I have Ric hacking into the DEA's command network," said Damon. "If they took over then you can bet they're doing a full evidence workup on the site. As soon as they upload any photos or reports we'll know what they know and if there is a loose end, we can bet Liam will try and tie it off." Damon left.

"That wasn't cool. He threw us under the bus," said Kol to Emma. Matt visited Caroline in the gym.

"I think you killed it," said Matt as Caroline punched the bag so hard it fell off the chain and into the wall.

"You catch that Cleaner?"

"Not yet. I wanna talk about Damon and Emma. Things obviously aren't the same. I'm worried how their dynamic's affecting the team. You've known them longer than I have."

"They'll work it out. They always do."

"The day I met Emma, Damon shot a rocket-propelled grenade at her so it's not like I don't expect some fireworks."

"In Damon's defense, he had to stay in cover, but…Damon is about rules. He makes them. He lives them. He understands them. If you have to sit him down and tell him he's benched, do it. He'll get it. As far as what Emma's going through…the best way to avoid an RPG is to keep your head down."

Meanwhile, Damon banged his new hand on Ric's desk.

"This is no good. I want something better. I still can't make a fist."

"That's the best I got, man."

"Right now. You said that this is the best that we've got right now. What do you mean by that? We've got kill chips, brain scanners and trackers that work all over the world. I put a mask on that turned me into somebody else in seconds."

"You know I've been thinking about grafting some of that onto your hand, make it look a little more real."

"There has to be something more. This isn't normal technology. This is next level. Where do we get it from?"

"I wish I knew. Silas had contacts, suppliers. Whatever high-tech Syndicate has came from them. Whatever we still got now, leftovers."

"So there is something more." Alaric sighed. "Who are they?"

"I don't know, man. Silas didn't leave his Rolodex. I don't know." Damon walked away and went to the shooting range. It's shots were clearly off mark. Emma walked into the room.

"Come to show me up?" Damon asked.

"You got a new gun."

"It's more compact, easier to manipulate." Emma emptied her clip. All her shots hit the dummy in the heart. "You really know how to hurt a guy."

"Still can't believe Liam got away."

"It's a crazy thing."

"Are you really going to do this? Are you really going to stand there with a straight face and lie to me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I checked your field gun when we got back from Mexico. Half the clip was empty. Damon, you can't run from this."

"I'm not running away from anything."

"You're pretending like it never happened."

"You wanna talk about it? Is that what you want?"

"That's not what I—"

"No! That's _exactly_ what you want. You want to tell me how to deal with it!"

"I want to help."

"I don't want your help! I don't want your pity and I sure as hell don't want to go over and over what happened! You did what you had to do! You made the right call."

"You act like I _had_ a choice."

"Thank you for saving my life. Again. Is that what you wanna hear?"

"Just let me in. Please."

"I don't blame you. I don't blame anybody. It just happened. This happened. It's my problem to solve. Why can't you understand that?"

"Because you said that we'd do it together. You said that we couldn't control the future, but no matter what happened the only thing that mattered, the only thing, was that we faced it together."

"Not this." He fired a clip and missed the target. He walked away. Unknown to both of them, Kol had been watching. Later, Damon was in a room trying to make a closed fist. Kol walked in.

"It's not right. What happened to you…sucks," said Kol.

"You always had a gift for poetry."

"You wanna know what else sucks? The way you're treating her."

"Kol."

"I saw you in the shooting range."

"What?"

"She saved your life and that's the way you talk to her?" Damon laughed.

"You're way out of line."

"You should be on your knees. It's a good thing she was in that car with you cause she's the only person I know who could've done what she did."

"Stay out of this."

"Look, I can't even imagine what you're going through, but I do know what it is to carry something around. You think you want to be alone, but trust me. You don't. Damon…she's hurting, man."

"She's with me, Kol. Back off," Damon hissed, his fangs dropping. Kol backed up.

"What she's married to you so you own her? You're the only one that can care about her?"

"Go away."

"You know I used to see what she saw in you, but now I'm starting to wonder." Damon swung at him, but Kol punched him. "Still can't make a fist with that thing, huh?" Kol walked away.

Later, Kol and Emma were called into briefing.

"Damon was right. He had Ric tap the DEA servers. They've uploaded the evidence from Garza's hacienda," said Matt.

"The laptop. Do we know what's on it?" Emma asked.

"The DEA tried to decrypt it onsite, but it's got an AES algorithm."

"Not an easy one to crack," said Damon, walking in, "But I'd use one too if I had all my money on it."

"How do you know that?" Kol asked.

"I went back to the original phone call Garza made to Liam. Keys to the kingdom. That is code. What is the name of Garza's outfit?"

"Los Reyes, the Kings," said Matt.

"The laptop is key and it's Garza's electronic ledger. DEA estimates he's worth $50 million."

"It's a treasure map," said Emma.

"Where is it right now?"

"Evidence lockup at the federal building in Houston, but it's being shipped to Quantico in the morning about six hours from now," said Matt.

"Liam will make a play," said Emma.

"Then you two better be there waiting for him," said Matt to Emma and Kol.

"I'll stay and monitor from Ops," said Damon.

"Alright. We're all set." Damon was visibly upset seeing Kol walk away with Emma.

A few hours later, Emma and Kol arrived at the federal building in Houston.

"Emma, this is Ops. We are live and you are go. Evidence locker is on the 12th floor. If Liam is not already there, we need to quietly secure the area and hold for intercept. Either way, we'll probably have to take him by force," said Matt.

"We're going in," said Emma.

"I've got Liam," said Jenna. "Garage level one, service entrance."

"We're gonna split up. Vector from two sides, close the net," said Emma. The screens Ric had on the building then went out.

"No, no! Now would be a good time to step it up, people!" Ric yelled.

"I can't get anything. He's using a Syndicate scrambler, but he's reworked the encryption."

"Well, you re-rework it."

"Still nothing."

"Damnit, we're blind," said Matt.

"We don't need the cameras," said Damon. "Ric, you're still jacked into security, right? You can see which doors are opening and closing."

"Yeah."

"There's not a lot of bodies in there at this hour."

"There!"

"That's Emma. She was just in that sector. That has to be our guy and that's gotta be Kol. He was closer," said Damon. "I need a com. Kol, it's Damon. He's entering the west colonnade. He's going for the elevators right there.

"Ops, he saw me! He's running! He's in the elevator!"

"The rest of them are shut down to save power. Emma, where are you?"

"East side and halfway up the stairs."

"Kol, you're the closest to the west side stairs. You need to get up there and make it quick."

"Copy that."

"Damon, I'm outside the lockup. You have eyes yet?"

"Negative."

"Get me in there." Damon nodded to Ric and he unlocked door. Emma slowly entered, her gun drawn. She saw a pack on the floor. Liam attacked her with a screwdriver, but she quickly disarmed him. She garroted him with an ID badge around his neck.

"We could really use those cameras about now," said Damon to Ric. Liam escaped out of her grasp and Liam was running toward door.

"Lock the door, Damon!"

"Emma."

"DO IT!" Ric locked the door before Liam could get out and the two vampires pulled their guns on each other. "You really got a thing for Mexican standoffs, huh?"

"I got cameras," said Jenna.

"Open the door," said Liam.

"It's just a wood door. Why don't you kick it down?"

"Kol, where the hell are you?" Damon asked.

"On my way!"

"Emma, listen to me. You're going to need to buy some time."

"Tell your boyfriend to open the door," said Liam.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my husband."

"Well, you should find a new one. He's a terrible shot."

"He only missed because I cut off his hand."

"Excuse me?"

"People say I should talk about it, but not with you."

"Oh, that's why he was stuck in the van. I completely missed that. Who knew there was so much drama going on?"

"What is she doing?" Matt asked.

"Buying time," Damon replied.

"Losing a hand. That's so permanent. It would me crazy. Like a wound I couldn't heal," said Liam.

"Healing's overrated."

"Emma, Kol is in position. Just move a little to your left." Emma moved and Kol fired through the door, killing Liam with several vervain shots to the heart.

"That was some choreography, Damon," said Matt as the other agents clapped. Later, Emma found Damon in Medical, trying to button the cuffs of his shirt with his robotic hand.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey back."

"Thanks for Houston by the way."

"I'm glad we got that guy."

"You said that you would come home soon. I'd say after today, you've earned it."

"I'm gonna stick around here for a few days. Be near Medical, work on a few things."

"Like what?"

"I told you that I have to deal with this."

"Not alone. I'm not going to let you."

"Emma."

"You're not going to torture yourself."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"You need to learn to live with this, Damon. You and me together."

"This is exactly why I don't want your help."

"That's not up to you."

"Or you!"

"I'm your wife. I wanna be here. I wanna help!"

"You've helped enough!" Emma walked away before he could see her tears. "Emma. Nice job. Real classy." His hand then turned into a fist. Damon punched the locker. Emma heard the banging outside and cried.


	32. Eclipse Blue

"Magnificent," said Emma as she walked through an art gallery and found the host of the exhibition.

"Gustav Klimt, from his Vienna years."

"It's in excellent condition."

"The previous owners took great care in its handling."

"And the thieves who stole it from the owners last week?"

"Those gentlemen are very meticulous. Rest assured, we don't consort with garden-variety criminals. We only represent the elite. All works for sale come complete with forged provenance papers and if art isn't your fancy, we have goods in the back. Guns, black market technology…"

"Oh, I'm not the buyer. My employer is. I'd like to introduce you to him. Mr. White." Kol entered the room. Emma stole the woman's phone from her purse as she turned.

"Angela."

"Hello," Kol replied.

"I'll be back in a minute," said Emma.

"Okay, Angela's office is in the southeast corner. Did you get her phone?" Damon asked through her com.

"Yes."

"It'll transmit an encrypted I.R. code that'll help you get past the security reader. Kol, buy her some time. Emma, hurry. I don't know how long Kol can keep up his cover."

"I'm almost there."

"Safe's in the floor," said Ric.

"Two minutes."

"Acknowledged. Two minutes. How's Kol doing?"

"Like a puppy trying to catch a butterfly," Ric groaned.

"I'm in," said Emma.

"Okay. You're looking for a flash drive."

"Kol, be prepared to ex-fil by force," said Damon after Angela realized her phone was missing and ordered a building lockdown.

"I'm so sorry," said Emma, returning to Kol and Angela. "I ran into a rather tiresome countess who I haven't seen since Art Basel Miami. Boring, boring. Um, I did find this in the ladies' room." She showed Angela her phone. "Do I leave it with you, or…"

"Thank you. It's mine."

"Mr. White, we do have that engagement."

"Yes, of course." Squeakily, they managed to leave the gallery. In The Syndicate, Damon was pissed at Kol's ineptitude at undercover work. When Emma and Kol arrived at The Syndicate, Damon was waiting.

"I know it got a little rough," said Kol.

"Contact, engage, escalate. Make contact with the subject, engage their attention, and escalate their interest. It's tradecraft 101."

"We got it, didn't we?"

"That is not the point."

"Damon, we know that Kol has no experience working undercover," said Emma.

"Which is why we practiced for this."

"What happened to 'any mission you walk away from is a good mission'?" Kol asked. Damon looked like he was about to punch him so Emma stood between the two.

"Look, if our source is correct, and Angela is working with The Dirty Thirty, then Ric's gonna find a lot of goodies on this, right?" Damon nodded and took the flash drive as he left.

"Would it be insensitive if I gave him the finger?" Kol asked.

"He's just frustrated."

"Oh, great. I get to be his chew toy."

"Damon and I had a certain way of doing things in the field. It can't be easy for him. Watching someone take his place."

A few minutes later, Damon was in Medical when Tyler stopped by.

"Hey, you get satellite TV on that thing 'cause I'm missing the Redskins game?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard there was a man down. I had to make sure he was okay."

"I appreciate the sentiment."

"I heard you've been sleeping here. Don't you want to go home?"

"It's just been easier being close to Medical."

"You know, I know a lot of soldiers who have been through this. They all say that the best thing to do is to get back to a normal routine as fast as possible."

"I know. Some of them don't get it, but I do. It's time to move on." Caroline then entered the room.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Tyler.

"Wow, you people really need to work on your greeting skills. Um, I'm here to see Damon."

"Sorry to interrupt. I better go." Tyler looked disappointed as Caroline left.

"I gotta go see Ric," said Damon. "Look, you haven't seen her in what, a month? If she hasn't come around yet, then maybe you should let it go." Damon left and walked into Ric's office where Ric, Emma, and Kol were waiting.

"What do you got?" Damon asked.

"That flash drive Emma stole from the art gallery led us to another one of our wayward souls. A couple weeks ago, Angela took in a shipment of stolen military tech from China. According to her records, the seller was Ray."

"I remember him. He taught SERE," said Emma.

"SERE?" Ric asked.

"Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape. What to do when you're stuck in enemy territory."

"So he has a military background," said Kol.

"Two tours in the Gulf. Dishonorably discharged when he came home and chopped up some dude with an axe because he thought he was tappin' his wife. Bought himself a ticket to death row," Ric replied.

"And from there to The Syndicate. I remember him. He was one of the first humans turned on site," said Damon.

"Here's the funny thing though. He didn't take money from the stolen tech. He traded it."

"Traded it for what?" Emma asked.

"Bunch of stuff. Some basics. Rifles, ammunition. Some a little more exotic, like shock-sensitive shaped charges, the type of thing you'd find in anti-tank missiles, landmines. The target could be anything, anywhere."

"Or anyone," Emma added. The following day, Emma and Kol were hot on the trail for Ray in a residential district.

"So Ray was here?" Emma asked.

"Police reports say an intruder broke in last night," said Ric on her com. "Prints at the scene were inconclusive for them, but not for Shadowbot. It was Ray for sure."

"What'd he do?" Kol asked.

"Kidnapped a woman, shot her boyfriend, an off-duty Pennsylvania State Trooper who was lucky enough to still be wearing his vest. According to his report, he never got a clean look at the shooter."

"Who's the woman?" Emma asked.

"Kate Barrett, Ray's ex-wife."

"What do we know about her?"

"Married Ray in Texas in '04. After he Lizzie Bordened that dude and went to prison, she petitioned the state for divorce, moved to Philadelphia. She's been laying low ever since."

"No old photos anywhere," said Emma as she and Kol looked inside Kate's house.

"She was trying to leave her previous life behind," Kol replied.

"This is good," said Damon from Ops. "It means we have a shot at keeping this quiet."

"I don't think so," Ric scoffed. "Young woman taken from the arms of her cop boyfriend by her supposedly dead husband? Hello, _People_ magazine, do I have a cover for you."

"If this story blows up, questions will be asked. Questions that lead to The Syndicate."

"We won't let that happen," said Emma.

"Or what? Am I missing something?" Kol asked.

"If people find out that Ray's death was faked, The Syndicate could be exposed. The President herself has told us that she will not allow that, meaning…"

"Syndicate gets wiped out. I'm a Cleaner. I know how these things work." A man walked into the house.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"FBI," Emma replied.

"Yeah, the men told me. What I want to know is what the Feds want at a local crime scene."

"Who are you?" Kol asked.

"Lieutenant Jason Decker, Pennsylvania State Police."

"That's the boyfriend, the one who got shot," said Ric.

"Lieutenant, we believe that your suspect is someone we've been hunting," said Emma. "He's wanted in the abduction of several women, all in different states."

"I don't think so. I know who did this."

"You do?" Kol asked.

"Kate told me her ex-husband's been stalking her."

"You're mistaken. We've gone through the file," said Emma. "Ms. Barrett's ex-husband was executed by the state of Texas six years ago."

"I know, I know. That's what I've been telling her. But some mistake must have been made. A misidentification, a clerical error. She told me he'd been following her, even calling her at home."

"Well, she probably was being followed just not by who she thought. Look, this is not uncommon. She's been through a traumatic experience in the past. Now that this new threat has come up, her mind jumps to the first thing that scares her, her ex-husband."

"I don't know."

"You were shot during the attack. Took three in the vest, right?" Kol asked.

"Yeah."

"What are you still doing on the case?"

"I was placed on administrative leave."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't even be here."

"She's my girlfriend."

"If you're suggesting we look for a dead man, you're clearly not of much use."

"Perhaps you're right about your suspect."

"All right, you got him off the scent, but keep him close," said Damon. "Don't need him talking about his dead man theory to anyone else.

"Lieutenant, we do need someone to help us coordinate with state police and you obviously know this case better than anyone. Officially, you would be Special Advisor to the FBI. It'll keep you in the hunt," said Emma.

"Damon, our missing chica's ATM card was just used at a storage facility in Western Pennsylvania," said Ric.

"Can you get me eyes?" Damon asked.

"Security cam's online. He's taking off. There's only one road away from that facility. No way on or off it for a while. If he makes it to the highway though we could lose him in all the traffic."

"Can we send a team out there, cut him off?"

"At the rate he's going, he'll make the highway in twenty minutes. Fastest we could get a team out there is half an hour minimum."

"Emma, we found Ray. He's on an access road near Brookville. Only in twenty minutes, we'll lose him on the interstate. We can't scramble another team in time. You and Kol are the closest to the scene."

"We'll never get there." Emma then looked at the cop car outside.

"You're gonna clue in the cops?" Kol asked.

"Emma, you can't let them get to Ray. It's one thing if we scrub records, it's another if a dead inmate is sitting in front of the authorities in the flesh."

"Yeah, I know, but the State Troopers are the only ones with the resources to close that road in time. We need them. Lieutenant! We need you to set up a roadblock. You have access to a chopper, right?" He nodded and in a few minutes they arrived at the site.

"We set up roadblocks at both ends of the road, but he never reached them," said an officer. "So we closed in and found his car here."

"Any other vehicles go through?" Emma asked.

"No."

"Anyone approach it?" Kol asked.

"They've been told to wait for you."

"Wait here until we signal you," said Emma. Kol and Emma walked off, their guns at the ready. "Once we get Ray, we've gotta keep him out of sight. Kol opened the car door. It was empty. "Where are they?"

"Could he have doubled back on foot?"

"No. The troopers would have seen him. We got a car, no Ray."

"What's Ray's training in again?" Damon asked.

"Survival expert. Silas used him for missions in hostile environments," said Ric. "Deserts, jungles…"

"Forests? Emma, Ray was not on that road to get to another destination. That road was his destination."

"Here? Why?"

"Because he's in the woods."

"God damnit," Emma growled. She and Kol then returned to The Syndicate for a briefing.

"Allegheny National Forest. ½ million acres, spread out across two states," Ric began.

"Police begin a search in the morning," said Emma.

"Yeah, why don't you ask them if they can also find the Boba Fett figure I lost in second grade," Ric laughed. "They got about as much a chance of finding that. The tree canopy makes satellite imaging useless."

"What about thermal?" Kol asked.

"Sure, if you want to check out every bear in the woods."

"This is Ray's home turf, he can survive there indefinitely which is why he was stocking up on supplies," said Damon.

"Actually, Kol versus Bear would be pretty sweet," said Ric.

"We do have one lead. Ric recently analyzed the phone calls made from Kate's phone. A few of them pinged off a cell tower near the area."

"Tower's coverage radius intersects part of the forest."

"That narrows our search area," said Emma.

"Which gives us the jump on the police. You two are the lead team. Alpha Two runs support, but the priority remains the same: get Ray and get him first," said Damon. Emma went to the doorway and watched as Damon scolded Kol.

"You came on too strong with Decker. Emma had him hooked. You almost lost him."

"But we didn't."

"It's not always about the immediate. When you work a cover, it's about leaving no questions behind."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. Your diction could use work." A few minutes later, Emma caught up with Damon in the hallway.

"Hey. You've been pretty tough on Kol lately."

"He's making it tough on himself."

"He has good instincts. He'll be fine. Look, I know it's been hard for you not being out there yourself, but you'll be cleared for action soon. In the meantime, maybe find another punching bag?"

"This isn't personal. It's about making sure Kol's ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Look, you know as well as I do when you're out there, things can turn on a dime. And when that happens, you need to have absolute trust in the skills of the person who has your back."

"I know Kol can be that guy."

"Good, because I can't. Emma, I'm not going back into the field." He held up his robotic hand. "This may be good enough for someone who wants to drive again or use a fork and knife in a restaurant, but for what we do, it is not good enough. It is nowhere near good enough."

"You're just frustrated."

"No. Actually, no. This is not frustration. Things have changed and I accept that. But it is why I need to make sure Kol is ready for this job. He's your partner now." Damon walked away, leaving Emma speechless. She then left for Ric's office.

"Ric, there has to be something better."

"What?"

"Damon's hand. That's some kind of training model, right? Something to get him used to the system until…I don't know. Something better?"

"There is no better. That's it. Look, Damon came to me with the same question. I had to give him the same answer. Now, he didn't like it, but he accepted it. Maybe you should too." She walked away. Early the next morning, Emma and Kol began searching the woods with a police team including Kate's boyfriend.

"Troopers are clearing the first zone now," said Ric.

"Where's Tyler's team?" Damon asked.

"Sweeping the area closer to the cell tower."

"He's set booby traps. Tell Emma to be careful," said Tyler.

"Hey, guys, the target left behind a few unwanted presents for us. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Copy," Kol replied.

"Hey, what field office did you say you were from?" Decker asked.

"Philly," Emma replied.

"Right. And who's the SAC over there?"

"You know people at the Bureau?"

"A few."

"Javier Fernandez," said Ric.

"Well, I will tell Javi that you said 'hello,'" Emma replied.

"You know I think there's something to be learned from those past kidnappings. Why don't we go back to HQ and you can show me those case files?"

"That's a good idea, although I don't think we have time for that right now."

"I think we do." Quickly, Emma and Kol took out the officers. Back-up arrived and Kol shot at them.

"Come on!" Emma yelled as they ran into the forest. "Ops, we're clear."

"What the hell happened?"

"We were blown. We had to get out of there."

"No, from what I could tell you were doing fine until Kol started decking cops."

"There was a situation," said Kol.

"That we were defusing."

"It wasn't working. I had to make a move."

"Damon, it was the right call," Emma added.

"Yeah, well you're dead to the cops now and Ray's on alert. Get back here so we can sort out this mess." Kol deactivated his com.

"If he doesn't get off my case, I'm gonna take his other hand."

"Just believe me. He's thinking about you."

"Yeah, I know exactly what he's thinking of me."

"No, I mean he's hard on you for a reason. He wants you to be good enough for me. He's not coming back, Kol. Not to fieldwork. He says you're my partner now for good and he wants you to be ready for that."

"Hey. He's trying to do the right thing. All he's doing is leaving behind his life as an agent. That's it."

"What if that's not all he's leaving behind?"

"I can't look at another tree. This must be what squirrels feel like," Ric groaned from Ops.

"He's got to have a structure in there even if it's just a tent."

"Yeah, but this guy's whole mojo is about making himself invisible, and if he had time to set those traps, you know he took his time hiding his base."

"But how much time?" Caroline asked. "Ric, can you call up a satellite image of the forest from six months ago? Okay, now can your imaging software look for any changes in the terrain?"

"Yeah. There was a clearing in the northwest corner. Not there anymore. It's all trees now."

"What kind of trees grow like that in six months?"

"Camouflage," said Damon. "Ric, send the coordinates to Tyler. Emma, we have a possible bearing on Ray's base. Can you and Kol turn around and meet up with Tyler?"

"We're almost there," said Emma.

"You are? I told you to return home."

"We're better prepped on Ray's profile. than the other team and they're undermanned for that search area so I changed the call. Sometimes you got to do that out here in the field," Kol replied.

"Let me know when you find Tyler. Bastard."

"What have you got?" Emma asked Tyler.

"Some kind of bunker under that rise."

"Seen Ray?"

"No. No sign of the girl either." He looked at Kol.

"Oh," Emma said, realizing Tyler and Kol had never met. "Tyler, Kol. Kol, Tyler."

"You know from what I'd heard I thought you'd be bigger," said Tyler.

"Really? I didn't know what you'd look like because well nobody ever talks about you."

"All right, let's move on. Where's your team?" Emma asked.

"Far side, covering the flank. Red one, get me recon."

"I lost Jensen," said Ric.

"We lost Jensen's signal."

"Checking."

"Emma, you're under attack. I repeat you are under attack!"

"Red three, meet me at the previous waypoint. Eyes on the bunker." He ran off toward an agent's location.

"Don't move!" he yelled.

"Tyler? Tyler!" Emma yelled. "Agents down!" Kol was then shot and Emma spotted Ray. She shot at him and he ran away. "You okay? Your armor caught it. Can you move?"

"Yeah."

"Kol's wounded, but mobile. We're heading for Tyler. Tyler's alive, but he needs medical attention."

"We can airlift him out of there in a half hour. But there's another problem. We heard police chatter. They heard the explosion and they're on their way," said Damon.

"I'll go after Ray," said Kol.

"You can't even take a deep breath. You're staying with Tyler. Take cover. I'll go after Ray," said Emma.

"Not by yourself. If you hadn't noticed, he just kicked our ass."

"He took us by surprise."

"Emma."

"Look, you want to have my back? Watch out for the people I care about. That includes you."

"Okay." Emma walked around a tree near the bunker and entered the building. He found Kate unconscious.

"Kate, wake up. Where's Ray?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm here to help, but I need to know where Ray is."

"I don't know."

"I'm gonna get you out of here. Can you get under the bed and wait for my signal?"

"Yeah."

"All right." Ray then appeared behind Emma, but she punched him. He tried to attack her with a knife, but Kate hit him. Emma then shot him in the heart. "It's okay. It's over. Kate? Kate, the cops are going to be here very soon. I'm not with them. I'm with the government. I can't really explain what happened here, but if you tell people Ray was alive, it's gonna raise questions. Questions without answers. Understand? Your boyfriend is waiting for you. He wants a life together and if you want that too and I think you do, you can have it. But you've got to forget about Ray. All of this. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Okay." That night, the police found Kate, but Ray's body was gone.

"Kate Barrett credited her quick rescue to the efficiency and hard work of the Pennsylvania State Police," said a reporter the following day. Kol and Damon were watching the report from Ops. "As for the unidentified suspect behind her abduction, he's yet to be apprehended, but Troopers did find blood and torn clothing in the area, leading them to believe that the suspect is injured and possibly dead."

"Blood and torn clothing?" Damon asked.

"Cleaning isn't just about dissolving the bodies. It's leaving enough of a story behind that folks don't ask questions."

"Good job."

"Yeah."

"Not just about that. Thank you for being there for Emma."

"Look, Damon, I know we haven't been on the same page lately, but you should know something. You'll never have to worry about me protecting Emma. That's something I'll always do. No thanks needed."

"Well…you guys make a good team."

Meanwhile, Tyler was putting his shirt on in Medical when Caroline entered the room.

"What'd the doctor say?" she asked.

"Concussion. A few cuts and bruises, but I'll live."

"Good."

"I'm glad you think so. Way things have been going between us I wasn't so sure. I wanted you to make a choice between me and The Syndicate. That's why I left."

"How could I have made a choice when you were already gone?"

"You could have called."

"You could have come back."

"That's why I'm here."

"Look, what you said, about what most people would do in my situation…don't ever expect that from me. Most people haven't seen their father murdered before their eyes. Most people haven't been sold into slavery. I'm not most people. Never have been."

"I know. I should have known that."

"Yeah, you should have," Caroline replied, crying.

"Are you angry?"

"Yes, but not at you." He kissed her. In the gym, Damon was lifting a weight with his robotic hand.

"You want to go a round?" Emma asked, entering the room.

"I don't think so."

"Your hand not ready?"

"No."

"Aren't you the guy who once told me that you could take me with just one arm?"

"Nice try."

"Look, if you don't want to be out in the field anymore, that's fine. Kol's ready to be my partner and I've worked solo for many years, so I can handle myself."

"Emma, what do you want?"

"I want you to fight! For me! For us! I don't need you as my partner in the field. I need you as my partner in my life. So fight!" He swung at her, but she ducked and punched him in the stomach. He kneed her in the back of her leg, knocking her to the floor and she kissed him. "You want to move on? I understand. But I will never move on from you." Speechless, Damon left. Emma sat up and ran a hand through her hair as Alaric watched their exchange.

"Emmy, we've got to talk."

"Now is not a good time, Ric."

"Remember when I said there was nothing better? No better options for Damon?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I lied. There might be something better, but it could open the door to something a hell of a lot worse."

"What does that mean? What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying there might be a very real way for Damon to get his hand back."


	33. No Easy Way (Out)

With a gasp, Emma woke up from bed, having had another nightmare of that awful night with Damon trapped under the car. She saw the other side of the bed was untouched. Quickly, she dressed and went to Alaric who was working in his office in The Syndicate.

"Where are we on Heidegger?" she asked.

"Heidecker."

"Ric, where are we on our best chance at fixing Damon's hand, please?" Emma asked, impatient.

"What do you think I've been doing here? I've been going back over all the stuff Heidecker gave The Syndicate. Kill chips, polymer masks, pharmaceuticals, anything spy-fi."

"And you found something?"

"No. I remembered something. Heidecker used to come in for follow-up visits. He'd stop by, talk to the doctors, pick up any clinical data they recorded. These guys used The Syndicate for advanced field testing. To Silas, we were pawns. To Heidecker, we were lab rats. And that made me wonder. Who are Heidecker's lab rats now? Meet Kosta Beciraj. Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and one of Heidecker's newest test subjects. On the surface, Kosta looks like any other politician, but scratch the surface and there's a chewy criminal center. Ties to organized crime, drug trade, human trafficking, you name it."

"Why would a guy like this agree to be somebody's lab rat?"

"About a year ago, Kosta was secretly rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The official story is he was receiving treatment for minor injuries after being attacked by his pet tiger."

"Who is this guy? A Bond villain?"

"Keep your shirt on, double oh hottie. He had the tiger put down, walled himself up inside his house. He didn't want anyone to know the truth. It wasn't a tiger. The CIA tried to kill him. They failed, but he lost his leg. Transtibial amputation. Now check this out. These were taken just a few weeks ago." He showed her several pictures.

"That's no prosthetic. What the hell?"

"Deal with the devil. Heidecker."

"Spy-fi. How do we get him?"

"Did some digging. Heidecker's been visiting Kosovo about once a month. His first stop is Kosta's house. My guess would be some kind of maintenance on the wonder leg. That and maybe the sacrifice of a virgin or two. He stays for three days and then flies back out for parts unknown."

"Do we know when his next trip is?"

"He flies in every month on the first."

"That's today. I have two days to get there, grab Heidecker, and bring him back?"

"What do you mean grab him?"

"Same thing I usually mean. 'Come with me. I'm not gonna hurt you. We gotta go.' So I get him back here and he shows us how to give Damon a new hand."

"You think Matt's going to okay that?"

"This is not a Syndicate op. It's personal. The only people who need to know are you, me, and…Damon. I gotta tell him." She walked down hallway when Matt called her.

"Hey, how'd your meeting with the President go?"

"We're still standing here so I think it went fine. Which brings me to what Damon and I were discussing. Given how well he ran Ops while I was in DC, I've asked him to assume that role permanently," said Matt.

"It's like the job I used to have when Silas was running the place. Only Matt promised that he won't try and kill me so that's a little different," Damon added.

"It's the least I could do since the promotion doesn't come with a raise, huh?"

"Right."

"That's great news. Congratulations," said Emma, keeping a tight smile on her face.

"Thanks. I should probably get down there. Did you need me or Matt?"

"Matt."

"Okay." He left.

"He seems better. How are you doing?" Matt asked.

"I'm still adjusting. Although not as fast as he is, I guess."

"Look, I know this can't be easy on you. I wish there was something I could do to help."

"I could use some time off."

"Sure." Emma left and went back down to Ric's office.

"We need to confirm that that leg is real. This'll do it, right?" Emma asked, fiddling with a device.

"Let's make sure. Why don't I use it to examine your head since you seem to be suffering from some sort of brain damage?"

"I've been on solo missions before, nerd."

"Can't you call Caroline or Kol or something? Just have some backup."

"Kol is out of the country and Caroline has gone out of town with Tyler, some sort of meet the family thing. I can't pull her away from that."

"What about Damon? You were gonna tell him. What happened?"

"He got a promotion. He's doing better. He's adjusting. He even made a joke this morning."

"Was it funny? Look, that all sounds like good news."

"It is. He's rebuilding his life. So if I go in there and tell him about this new hand and nothing comes of it? I can't give him false hope, not after…everything."

"Dude's got a new leg. That hope is not false. Neither is the danger."

"Why are you so afraid of this Heidecker guy?"

"He works for people who spend their days dreaming up new and interesting ways to commit murder. Kill chips, bullets made of teeth, that stuff that liquefies your stomach. They're not nice folks. Trust me."

"I'm not afraid of a bunch of scientists."

"You should be."

"Ric, they have something that I need. If they are the only thing standing in the way of me fixing Damon's hand, they are the ones who should be afraid." A few hours later, Emma was in Pristina, Kosovo.

"Okay, Emmy. According to CIA files, the penthouse is home to one Bettina Fath. Former model and current mistress of Kosta Beciraj." Emma entered the apartment and pointed a gun at the mistress' head. "Kosta just left his office and is on his way to you now."

"I know you're scared, but I'm not here to hurt you," Emma replied.

"You are here to kill Kosta?"

"I need something from him, but I don't want to kill him."

"Why not? He's a pig. He deserves to die. You have a gun. Why not shoot him?"

"Uh, well, I need him alive. But if you can help me, I can help you." A few minutes later, Kosta entered the suite.

"Bettina, where are you?"

"You look tired. You need to relax and let me take care of you," said Bettina.

"What did you have in mind?" Emma appeared behind him and injected a needle into him.

"A sedative." They laid him on the couch and Bettina slapped him. "Pig."

"There's a ticket waiting for you at the airport. When you land, check into the hotel. There'll be a packet there, everything you need to start your life over."

"Thank you." She left.

"That was different." Emma rolled up Kosta's pant leg.

"Okay, hold the ultrasound steady. I need accurate measurements to calculate this. We don't want to kill him."

"It really is live tissue."

"Over a metal endoskeleton," Ric replied in an Austrian accent. "Actually, it looks like his bones are made of carbon fiber. Little disappointing."

"It's awesome."

"Okay, give him three CCs of the NSM-26."

"How long till this drug does its job?" Emma asked as she injected Kosta in the leg.

"As soon as he wakes up, he'll feel warm and tingly. Then pain and swelling. He'll be begging Heidecker for a house call before you know it."

A few hours later, Damon stopped by Ric's office.

"Hey, do you know where Emma went? Matt said she took a few days off."

"I'm not sure. I think she went somewhere with Caroline. Like a spa or something."

"Or maybe not," said Caroline, entering the room.

"You're supposed to be out of town with your boyfriend."

"Sorry to expose your web of lies, but his sister canceled. Her kids are sick."

"Let's try again. Where's Emma?" Damon asked.

"Look, maybe you should call her and ask her yourself. I don't want to be in the middle of this."

"You're up to your neck in this. Whatever this is." Caroline typed a few keys on Ric's desk as Damon distracted him.

"What is all this?"

"What did you do?"

"I overrode your hotkey app and restored all the hidden windows."

"The timestamps on these photos are wrong," said Damon.

"No, they're not."

"They have to be. If this guy lost his leg a year ago he can't be walking around."

"As far as we can tell, it's not a prosthetic. It's real flesh and blood grown over carbon fiber bone."

"Oh my God. Damon," said Caroline.

That night, Emma watched from the forest surrounding Kosta's house as Heidecker was brought in. She became alarmed when Kosta pulled a gun on Heidecker.

"Ric, we have a problem. I think Kosta my be crazier than we thought. I gotta go in."

"No, Emma. You need to get out," said Damon.

"Damon, what are you…"

"Pull out. It's too dangerous and you're alone in there."

"I can't let them kill Heidecker."

"Damn it. Emma!"

"What the hell is going on?" Matt asked, entering Ric's office. Emma entered the house and knocked Kosta out.

"Come on. Let's go," she said to Heidecker. Lights turned on and guards started shooting at Emma, but she fired back. A car then pulled in front of her. She was trapped. She dropped her gun and a guard knocked her out.

"Kosovo? Do you have any idea how delicate the political situation is there?" Matt asked Ric as he, Damon, Ric, and Caroline walked into Briefing.

"Why the hell didn't you stop her?" Damon asked.

"Please remind me of the last time someone successfully stopped Emmy from doing anything. Ever."

"He has a point," Caroline acceded.

"And we have an international crisis," Matt shot back. "Emma just assaulted the Deputy Prime Minister of a UN recognized—"

"Kosta Beciraj is a criminal. Everyone knows that," Caroline interrupted.

"He's a duly appointed government official. That's what matters."

"No. What matters is Emma's captured," Damon replied.

"Wait, wait. Shut up, everyone," said Ric. "I got Emma. She's close to her com."

"I will send them your head in a box. Maybe they can grow you a new body."

"This is a misunderstanding," said Heidecker.

"No! I paid you for this leg and you double-cross me? Now it's you who will pay after you undo what you did to me."

"And what did I do to you, hmm? Your accusations keep changing. Am I a mad scientist? Am I a CIA assassin?"

"You travel alone and pretend to feel no fear. But she…she proves this is not so true. Pay close attention what happens to your bodyguard. It will happen much more slowly to you." He cocked his gun.

"If you harm her, I won't help you."

"Why would he protect her?" Ric asked.

"He's buying some time," Caroline replied.

"Maybe you're warm-blooded after all." Damon began to walk away.

"Damon, you can't go in there blind!" Matt yelled.

"You come up with a plan. I'll call you when I get there."

"I gather his plan is, step one, fly to Kosovo, step two, kick ass?" Ric asked.

"I want to go with him," said Caroline.

"Take backup with you," Matt sighed. "There's no way we can keep a lid on this. No containment possible."

"Look, even if Kosovo flips out and seals its borders, it doesn't necessarily mean The Syndicate had something to do with it."

"Yes, but if Danforth finds out and tells the President, then we are dead. They will brand Emma as a rogue assassin and they will burn this place down to make sure we can't cause damage like this again."

"I'm beginning to understand why Silas made the black boxes. Government has a trigger on you, you put a trigger on them."

"Silas. How would Silas deal with this kind of thing?"

"He'd try to get ahead of it, spin something. He called it controlling the narrative." Matt then placed a call on speakerphone.

"Danforth," a man answered.

"Commander, I hope you don't mind me calling you on your secure line," said Matt.

"That's what it's for, Donovan. What's wrong?"

"Nothing wrong. Just curious about the situation in Kosovo."

"What situation?"

"Evan, please. I've got people on the ground in Macedonia. They've heard the rumors. I just need to know what to tell them."

"Rumors about what?"

"That Kosovo is getting ready to close its borders."

"If there was something going on, I'd hear about it from Camp Bondsteel."

"But you haven't."

"You want to check rumors, call TMZ. I don't have time for this." He hung up.

"Now we just wait for him to call back. What? Did it sound like I was lying?"

"No," Ric replied, a bit uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Emma and Heidecker were placed inside a steel cage.

"So this is Kiki's room?" Emma asked.

"His pet tiger. Now deceased," Heidecker replied. "We haven't been formally introduced."

"I know who you are. What I want to know is why you saved me back there."

"Shamless self-interest. Mr. Beciraj is going to kill me. Based on the skills you possess, courtesy of your Syndicate training, I decided that you afforded me the greatest chance of escape."

"How do you know that? How do you know who I am?"

"I know every agent in The Syndicate. Not personally, of course. Statistically. Blood type, body mass, response time. Things of this nature."

"Right. Because we were just useful tools to you."

"I hope so. In this case," he laughed.

"Be careful. My fangs have a sharp edge."

"You went to a great deal of trouble to find me. I must have something that you need. I subscribe to the principle of fair exchange. If you help me, I would be happy to return the favor. Assuming you tell me what that favor might be."

"One of our own was wounded…in combat. He lost his right hand."

"Oh, dear."

"You made him a new leg. I thought you could make us a new hand."

"Well, I didn't, uh, make the leg. The men I work for did. I merely applied the technology and occasionally returned to service it, collect data. Same as I used to do at The Syndicate."

"Ric told me you were the source of the tech."

"Not the source. The sales rep for the source."

"I saw that leg. The skin was real. It was real."

"Most of it is. The bone is carbon fiber, but the tissue was regrown from his own DNA."

"That's not possible."

"You've worked with some of our prototypes. I would hope that your perspective on what's possible might have been expanded by now."

"I'm sorry if gadgets like the kill chip don't fill me with a sense of wonder."

"We didn't design them to kill. That was simply how Silas chose to apply the technology. Used in other ways those chips could help millions of people."

"You allowed your technology to be used in this way. You gave it to a covert black ops group."

"The military funding of science has led to breakthroughs that have changed the lives of every single human being in the world."

"Like the atom bomb?"

"I mean atom energy. Like the internet, developed by DARPA. Like GPS, developed by the Navy."

"Yay, science."

"The answer is yes. We can make your friend a new hand, one indistinguishable from the one he lost, but it can't be built from inside this cage. So what do you say we get me out of here?" Kosta arrived several minutes later.

"Tell me what you did to my leg."

"It's a slow-acting poison. What you're experiencing right now is just the beginning. By tomorrow, it'll be too painful to walk on and by next week, you'll be dead," Emma replied.

"You must fix it."

"We can, but we'll need some assurances. If we help you, you have to agree to let us go," said Heidecker.

"And what assurances do I have? You already poisoned me once. How do I know the next shot's not going to make things worse?"

"You can test it out on one of your many men. If he survives, you're safe," said Emma.

"And once your leg is healed, you'll take us to a location of our choosing and I will give you all the anti-rejection medicine I have. We will leave. You'll never see us again," Heidecker added.

"I accept your terms. Where is the antidote? In your bag?"

"I'm afraid not. We'll have to manufacture the antidote right here."

"And how long will it take?"

"Several hours. And we need supplies." He handed Kosta a piece of paper.

"That's quite a list. It will take a while for my men to pull this all together."

"You better hurry. We wouldn't want that beautiful, perfect leg to rot and fall off while they're out shopping," said Emma.

Meanwhile, Matt paced in his office when the phone finally rang.

"This is Donovan."

"You were right about the borders. Great call. No one else caught it."

"What's the President's plan?"

"Stall. Until we figure out how to handle this. You remember what happened last year when the Kosovo police tried to take over the northern posts."

"Six months of violence on both sides of the border. I don't suppose the UN security council wants to repeat that particular part of history."

"They aren't sure what to do. The prime minister can be reasoned with. His right hand man is a different story."

"It's why the CIA tried to take him out in the first place, right? I don't suppose they could try again?"

"I can't risk another botched CIA job. If we took him out, it would have to be clean. Invisible, even."

"You're not suggesting…"

"It's why The Syndicate was created, right? Do you think your people can get to Beciraj?"

"I believe we might have a way in."

In Kosovo, Emma was helping Heidecker manufacture the cure.

"I thought you said you weren't a scientist," said Emma.

"No. I said I wasn't that kind of a scientist who could engineer a way to regenerate someone's limb. Basic chemistry I can manage."

"So the leg. Tell me how it works."

"I can only explain it in the most rudimentary way."

"Good. That's the only way I'll understand it."

"All right. We know that newts and salamanders can regrow severed limbs. So the researchers developed a chemical cocktail that creates pluripotent stem cells – the same thing salamanders use for regeneration."

"Do you know how much something like this costs? I don't know if you got the memo, but The Syndicate lost most of its government funding."

"Our organization isn't interested in money. We're very well funded. What we need is data. The kind that comes from clinical trials, real world testing. How did your friend lose his hand? It would help me figure out if he's a good candidate for the regeneration process."

"He was pinned under a burning car. It was either cut off his hand or watch him die."

"A clean cut. Not a crush injury. That's good. I assume the amputation took place in the field, yes? A great deal of blood loss?"

"There was a lot of blood. Too much. Medical support was an hour away and, uh, fortunately, there was a sharp blade and a burning car, so it only took a few tries to cauterize the wound."

"I'm sorry. It must have been very difficult for you to do what you did."

"I don't think I'll ever get the sound of his screams out of my head."

"When you see him whole again, you will."

Meanwhile, Damon was with Caroline and a back-up team, preparing to storm the compound.

"We're here," he said to Matt over his com.

"You told me to make a plan."

"I'm all ears."

"I need you to kill Kosta Beciraj. This order has been sanctioned by the President."

"I thought The Syndicate didn't do kill missions anymore."

"Consider this the last one. Good luck."

"We're in position."

"From what we heard on the com, they're holding them in Kiki's room," said Ric. "It's behind the house in the old stables. Once you start moving, there's no cover between you and the house."

"Okay. Mark, you guys keep the guards busy on this side of the house and that'll be your position once Chris takes care of the guards." Mark shot two of the guards. "Go!" In the stables, Heidecker used the solution he created to dissolve the lock on the door.

"Let's go," said Emma as Damon ran in.

"Damon? What are you doing? What's the plan?"

"I've got a car a half mile up the road."

"We won't make it on foot. I saw another car on the other side of the house."

"Ops, I've got Emma and a passenger. We'll get another ride," said Damon as they left the stable. They passed one side of the house and Kosta started shooting at them. They took cover. "Care, target is on the south side of the building." Caroline then shot Kosta in the head.

"Cover story?" Emma asked Damon.

"Yeah, cover story. Ops, target is eliminated. It'll look like his own man shot him."

"Copy that. Alpha team, disengage. Rendezvous with Caroline and follow exfil route as planned. Did you erase the security footage?" Matt asked Ric.

"Like we were never there."

"Tell The President it's done."

"Damon, local fuzz got a call about all the noise. They're coming to crash the party. You need to stay off the main roads."

"All right. Caroline, take the team to the extraction point. We'll find another way. We gotta get going now."

"I have a plane," said Heidecker. They quickly left the compound for the airport. "It's Heidecker. I'm on my way now. Please ready the plane and make sure the cargo is secure." Heidecker then looked at Damon's robotic hand. "That model always was twitchy. We had trouble calibrating the biosensors. The myoelectric feedback had been weakened because the signal was spread across too many sensors."

"I'm sorry. You lost us," said Emma.

"All Ric needs to do is clip a few of the returns. You'll get far more consistent results, although I doubt you'll be needing that prosthetic much longer."

"Do you really think the limb regeneration's gonna work?"

"From what you told me about his injury and from what I can see in this incredibly poor light, I believe Damon would be an excellent candidate. We're here. Just up ahead. The gentleman in the black jacket is the last of Kosta's thugs. We're going to have to deal with him before my pilot can take off."

"Got it." She opened her door, hitting the man.

"I'm sure you'll want to get started as soon as possible. We'll need to run a few tests. You're gonna want to start on the anti-rejection meds immediately." They then saw children on the plane.

"Damon," Emma warned.

"Why are there kids on the plane?" Damon asked.

"I told you to secure the cargo," Heidecker chided his pilot. "As I explained to Emma, everyone pays what they can. The children are Kosta's payment."

"Who are they? Were they kidnapped?" Emma asked.

"To be honest with you, it never occurred to me to ask. It was irrelevant. Real world testing is important to our research and it's very difficult to find able-bodied test subjects."

"They're children. Not guinea pigs."

"These children come from abject poverty. They have extremely short life expectancies. At least now, their lives will have some meaning."

"No wonder you and Silas got along. You're a monster."

"And you're vampires. You've both killed plenty of people. You can't be surprised that this is how the world works."

"It doesn't mean we're gonna stand by and let you get away with this," Damon replied. Heidecker grabbed a gun, but Emma shot him first. He fell…dead. The following morning, Matt met with Commander Danforth in DC.

"The President was quite impressed by what you did in Kosovo," said Danforth. "To be honest, so was I."

"I know it was a delicate situation for the President."

"Making it look like an attempted coup? Stroke of genius."

"It's not that I don't appreciate the kudos, but you could have said this all over the phone. Why'd you need to see me?"

"The President and I have given this matter a lot of thought. We'd like to have a serious conversation about The Syndicate's future." He handed Matt a briefcase.

Meanwhile, Emma found Damon in Ric's office, looking over some documents.

"I assumed Ric was exaggerating of course, but you really did take over his whole space," said Emma.

"I needed it to lay all of this out, but it's everything we found on that plane. Heidecker can't talk, but maybe his stuff can tell us something."

"I'm so sorry about Kosovo."

"Don't apologize. I should thank you. I was ready to give up and accept that this was the best I was ever gonna have, but you proved me wrong. You gave me hope."

"How? I shot Heidecker. He's dead."

"Yes. But the people he works for aren't. They're still out there. They can fix this. They can give me a new hand."

"Damon, these are not good people. Ric was right to warn me about them."

"And you were right to ignore him. This is my chance to get back what I lost. I didn't even think that it was possible. Now that I know that it is I can't give up on that."

"We can't trust them and we certainly shouldn't be in business with them."

"We won't be. We'll find them, we'll take what we need, and we'll burn their house down. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes."

A few minutes later, Caroline, Ric, Emma, and Damon were called to Matt's office for a meeting.

"How'd it go with the boss lady?" Ric asked.

"She was pleased with the operation in Kosovo. No one suggested liquidating our assets even once."

"That's good news, right?" Caroline asked.

"What else did she say?" Emma asked, noticing Matt looked particularly upset.

"She was so impressed that she's asked us to look into a few other matters," Matt replied, opening a briefcase.

"All right. Hold on," Damon groaned. "We all agreed that there wouldn't be any government missions. We'd find these rogue agents and then we'd shut this place down."

"Strictly clean up duty," Ric added. "With a real hard expiration date."

"What do we do?" Caroline asked.

"I feel like I've done enough," Emma replied.

"It's four files. We take care of them, maybe that's the end of it."

"No. Not the end. This is how it begins."


	34. Love Out Of Lust

"We've got a problem," said John, talking to Matt over the phone. "An ambitious young analyst just stumbled past her security clearance. She's gonna be asking questions none of us want answered. Sound familiar, Mr. Donovan?"

Meanwhile, Ric, Emma, and Damon were looking over the files Matt had given them in Ric's office.

"This is history repeating itself. The path to destruction."

"Come on, Ric. It's just four missions the President wants us to look into," Damon replied.

"Yeah, then it's five, then six. Look, you go down to Ops and tell all them that instead of shutting this place down and earning their freedom, they're just gonna have to shine it on a little bit longer for Uncle Sam."

"That's why we are going to take on the risk ourselves," said Emma.

"Speak for yourself, sister."

"Ric, suck up. These are not Silas side jobs. These are not illegal."

"The Syndicate is illegal. It always has been. If the President wanted constitutionally approved spy missions, she'd use the CIA."

"Guys, this stuff can wait," said Matt, entering the room. "We've got an exposure alert."

"See what I mean?" Ric asked.

"Closed briefing. Thirty minutes. Where's Caroline?"

"Off-duty with Tyler," Damon answered.

"Call them both. This concerns him too."

Half an hour later, the group was in Matt's office for a briefing.

"Esther's just made her latest move. An attack designed to expose The Syndicate while leaving no trace back to her," Matt began.

"Wait, Esther?" Caroline asked. "I thought this was about some analyst at the CIA."

"Naomi Ceaver. She's just a pawn. Got a flash drive dead-dropped in her mailbox this morning."

"With information about my mother?" Tyler asked.

"With information that could have only come from the Black Box," Emma replied.

"Naomi said she thought she saw someone watching her, but it was a man, not a woman," Matt added.

"What exactly is on this flash drive?"

"Ten digital files, unredacted, linking former Senator Carol Lockwood to a secret black ops unit called The Syndicate."

"Why would Esther leak this? If she wanted to expose us, she could just send the entire Black Box to _The New York Times._ Why peel off a couple of files and filter it through the CIA?" Damon asked.

"Where the hell are these damn files? Why are we not looking at them right now?" Tyler yelled.

"John Gilbert's got the flash drive. We just gotta figure out pickup," Matt answered.

"I guess you guys never heard of email down here?"

"We can't risk sending Black Box files on the web," said Damon.

"Esther knows that. She knows that we have to send someone to pick it up. We can't just waltz into the CIA," Emma added. "It'd have to be done discreetly and…"

"What?" Matt asked.

"Gilbert. That's her move. She's going after John."

"What?"

"He's the only person at the CIA who knows about The Syndicate. He's committed to keeping it a secret. He wouldn't just send some random agent out to deliver it. It would have to be him."

"Esther targeting the director of the CIA. That's a little crazy even for her," Damon replied.

"Esther targeting our closest ally in the government? It's not so crazy."

"We need to get those files.," said Tyler.

"We will," Damon replied. "And if Esther makes a move at the drop, we'll be ready for her. The Director's a busy man. High-profile. We can arrange the drop on his normal schedule, under the nose of his own security team. Tomorrow he's got an 09:00 at the federal courthouse. Emma will run point. On his way into the building, John will stop by the coffee cart and drop the drive into the tip jar. We'll have undercover assets on every corner, scanning every possible threat in a three-block radius. Counter-snipers on the surrounding rooftops will own the sightlines. No person or vehicle gets within range of John without us having the drop on them first."

The following day, the operation was well underway.

"All units be on alert. Gilbert is arriving," said Tyler through the coms. Emma spotted John get out of his car and he nodded to her. She smiled. Suddenly, John's car exploded. The Director of the CIA was dead. In Ops, Matt was stunned.

"Matt."

"I can't…I can't tell what we missed."

"We didn't miss anything," Ric replied. "Our screen was airtight. This was an inside job. We couldn't have protected against it."

"Street cams. We need to scrub them, erase any trace we were there."

"Jenna's on it."

"We know who did this and we can't tell the authorities that we know because they'll ask how we know and who the hell we are."

"Psychological torture. Esther's specialty."

"I agree," said Tyler, walking in with Caroline. "She called me just before the strike to gloat."

"How the hell did this happen?" Caroline asked.

"Working on that," Ric replied.

"Uh, guys? Looks like someone's already accessed the traffic cam servers around the bomb site," said Jenna.

"FBI. They're already checking," said Matt as Ric walked to her station.

"No, before that. This is a hack."

"We've already been deleted from the scene," said Ric.

"Not all of us," Jenna replied as she pulled up an image of Tyler on a phone.

"What the hell? That's not me. I was in the truck."

"Esther grafted your face onto some other guy's body," Ric realized. "It's a digital mask. We pulled the same gag on her last year in Moscow. Payback."

"You have to erase this. This is bad," said Caroline.

"And getting worse," Jenna added. "Shadowbot's been monitoring the FBI investigation. Turns out a cellular call pinged off the local tower at 9:02 on the dot, the exact time of detonation. The number is registered to Lieutenant Commander Tyler Lockwood."

"Esther called me. I didn't dial out."

"She cloned your number," Matt sighed. "And put you at the scene of the crime so you can't say your phone was stolen. She's framing you for the assassination."

A few minutes later, Matt, Emma, and Damon were in Ric's office helping their resident computer genius try to figure out who was really on the security camera.

"Clearly the same height and weight as Tyler, selected for that reason," said Damon.

"Look just see if you can pick him up on some of the other cameras. I mean she can't have hacked them all," said Matt behind Ric.

"Dude, give me some space please." Emma pulled Matt to the side.

"Matt, I'm sorry. John was a friend and it hurts."

"Yeah. He gave the eulogy at my funeral and I can't even go to his."

"We're gonna make her pay."

"Gotta be really careful in here. System is swarming with feds right now," said Ric.

"We don't have time for careful. The feds will not stop until they hang somebody for this, so we need to deliver them the guy behind the mask and write a cover story to match," Damon replied.

"Turn Esther's frame back on to her accomplice," Matt caught on.

"I can't do that unless we ID him. Can't ID him 'cause no one's seen his face."

"One person might have. The CIA analyst. She said she saw a shady guy at the end of her street the day the drive was dropped off," said Emma.

"Could be the same guy," Damon agreed.

"Could be. How do we find out?" Ric asked.

"We ask her to describe him," Emma answered.

"You want to make contact with a conspiracy theorist who's digging into The Syndicate?" Matt asked.

"I made contact with you."

"If this woman is anything like me, she's scared out of her mind right now."

"I'm not gonna tell her I'm Syndicate. I'll approach as FBI."

"It's gonna be hard to get you a black badge with all this heat going on," said Damon.

"I don't need it to get into Quantico. I just need an icebreaker. This could be our only lead to clear Tyler."

That night, Emma arrived at Naomi's apartment.

"Naomi Ceaver? Special Agent Margaret Bishop, FBI," Emma knocked on the door.

"ID," Naomi asked as she pulled the curtain away from her window.

"Just a couple questions for you, Naomi. It shouldn't take too long," said Emma as she flashed her badge. Naomi put her gun behind her back, tucked in the waistband of her pants, and opened the door.

"Sorry about that. I guess I'm a little on edge."

"Totally understand. You knew John Gilbert pretty well."

"Professionally. He appreciated the value of a good analyst."

"His secretary says that you were one of the last people to meet with him."

"It wasn't a meeting. I was dropping off some files for my section chief."

"Right. You're on the Russia desk. People in your office say that you have other interests."

"Other interests?"

"Conspiracy theories, shadow governments. They say that you think that the Gates House attack was not the work of a domestic terrorist."

"That's just a crazy theory."

"Oh, I don't know. Carol Lockwood survived that attack but they got to her in the end, didn't they? You think that was a covert black ops group, operating within the government? I know that look. That's the look I get at the Bureau when I spin my crazy theories. Look, I don't want to take up any more of your time. My co-workers think it's a waste of time to be here talking to you anyway."

"I gave Director Gilbert some files."

"What?"

"They were about Senator Lockwood and her involvement in covert missions. You're not wasting your time."

"How did you get these files?"

"They showed up in my mailbox."

"So you don't have a source."

"No. But the day I found them, there was a man I had never seen before watching me from down the street."

"Can you describe him?"

"Not really. He was like a blend of all my brother's old roommates, kinda faceless."

"But if you saw him again, you'd know?"

"Pretty sure. Why?"

"Let me try out one of my crazy theories, okay? I'll get back to you. Thank you for your time. Nice gun by the way."

"Thanks…I think."

Later, Emma arrived at Matt's office, having heard Tyler handed himself in to the FBI.

"How could you do this? This is exactly what Esther wants."

"We didn't have a choice."

"Of course you did."

"Emma, they have no motive."

"Esther's planning something. Trust me."

"Look, it's not like we're sitting on our hands. We're actively building the cover story to frame Esther's accomplice. We're building a cover that paints the accomplice as a lone nutjob obsessed with Carol Lockwood conspiracies. Once we find him we plant it in his residence. It'll explain why he went to such great lengths to frame the Senator's son."

Later, Ric had called Emma and Caroline to his office. He had recovered the phone Esther's accomplice had used.

"Fresh from the trash," he said. "Let's see what we got." He scanned a fingerprint. "Ellis Toyon, convicted of…grand theft auto? Just out on parole."

"Not exactly top rung talent," Caroline replied.

"That's not like Esther," Emma agreed.

"Take your breaks where you get 'em," Ric replied.

"Let's try and confirm." She called Naomi.

"Ceaver."

"Naomi. Special Agent Bishop. I'm sending a photo to your phone."

"That's him."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. I remember those eyes. Who is he?"

"You'll know when I know. Thank you for picking up."

"Wait. How do I get in touch with you?"

"I'll get in touch with you."

"Because I called the Bureau, and they transferred me to your voice mail, but when I contacted a supervisor at Hoover, he didn't have you on file."

"I'm not working out of the DC office. I'm liaising from Quantico."

"Got it. Which division?"

"What are you getting at?"

"It's just that that black ops group you mentioned? One of my theories is that they operate by impersonating other agencies, moving invisibly through the bureaucracy in order to cover their tracks. It's a process known as black badging."

"I'm familiar with the concept but can you imagine the amount of logistical support it would take to maintain that level of deception?"

"Would have to have an entire floor of computer experts working around the clock."

"Right. Not very likely. Look, Naomi, I think our focus should be on getting the real bad guys."

"You're right. I agree." Emma ended the call.

"Girl is pushing it."

"Our good friend Ellis may not have a reliable address, but he does have a new credit card with a charge for Chinese takeout one hour ago. I got the delivery address," said Ric.

"Let's see if he wants dessert." Emma and Caroline entered Ellis' apartment later.

"Oh. I know that smell," Caroline groaned.

"Esther. She cleaned him." A phone then rang. Emma answered it.

"Just one question, Emma," Esther said. "Do you really think I'd have my operative drop his phone in the trash for you to find?"

"Oh, this is what we're calling an operative nowadays?"

"Well when you don't have the best, you take what's available. I taught you that, remember?"

"What are you trying to teach us now? That every operative is disposable?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline, how nice to hear your voice. I think you're beginning to see running The Syndicate is difficult work, work that requires hard choices, hard sacrifice. First Damon's hand, now Tyler's life."

"Tyler is a decorated soldier and he's innocent," Emma replied. "Without motive, they can't charge him."

"Very good. So the problem is how we establish motive. Turns out Tyler was ordered to see a Navy psychiatrist after his mother's death. The loss combined with latent PTSD caused increasing levels of paranoia. The doctor was meticulous. He took copious notes on his digital recorder. The notes proved Tyler believed his mother was assassinated by the CIA in retaliation for reducing their funding. So he plotted his revenge…a car bomb for the Director of the CIA, the same way they killed his mother. Poetic justice. So, Emma, you did the right thing by throwing Tyler to the FBI. These are the sacrifices we make to protect The Syndicate. Oh and yes, Caroline, the lesson is that every operative is disposable."

When Emma and Caroline returned to Matt's office, Damon, Ric, and Matt were going over the evidence the FBI had collected.

"Patient identifies two previous episodes, the initial incident following the murder of his mother," said a recording.

"Voice stress analyzer registers well above normal," said Ric.

"Esther was holding a gun to his head," Damon added. "Gun that killed the doctor was a Socom .45. Weapon of choice for Navy SEALs."

"There's gotta be a way we can scrub this," said Caroline.

"It's too late for that," Ric replied.

"What can they charge him with?"

"Treason, domestic terrorism," Matt answered.

"You're talking death penalty. There's nothing we can do?"

"There is, but you aren't going to like it," Emma replied.

"You're not…"

"Yeah. We take Tyler from the law and we bring him to The Syndicate. We have to kill him."

"Okay. We have a twofold problem: fake Tyler's death and extract him. Ideas?"

"Well, faking his suicide won't work. Can't hang himself in an interrogation room and slipping him poison will raise too many questions," said Damon.

"What about a 'don't look, don't touch' gag. I hacked their forensic lab's inventory. There's a Russian informant who died of polonium poisoning currently on ice in the basement. He's scheduled to be picked up by the CDC next week," Ric suggested.

"No one wants to be near radiation. Don't look," Emma agreed. "Don't touch. That solves extraction. Now for the other problem."

"There's a third problem. Tyler. Once he goes through this, there's no turning back. We're making a decision without knowing it's what he really wants," Caroline argued.

"Briefing him in the middle of the FBI beehive is difficult," said Matt.

"Tenth floor is too hot to use a cover," Damon added.

"Yeah and this ain't like Hong Kong when you were in holding and Tyler played your lawyer," said Ric.

"What if we use a real lawyer? Caroline, can you get in touch with Tyler's sisters?" Emma asked.

The following morning as a lawyer handed Tyler a letter in code, Emma and Caroline entered the building.

"Ric, where are we with Tyler?" Emma asked.

"He's reading. I'm holding my breath. Come on, man. First word of every sentence. Article 134. It's right there in front of you."

"What's Article 134?" Jenna asked.

"Military violation. Self-injury with intent to avoid service," Damon answered.

"I'm not sure I'd get that."

"That's 'cause you were never a SEAL," Ric replied. "Come on, man. The address is even wrong. It's a dead giveaway."

"We're on our way up," said Emma. When they reached their floor, Caroline walked to the first aid station and swapped at a syringe in the kit. Emma then spotted Naomi.

"What is she doing here?" Caroline asked.

"Earning her Fletcher badge. How's the kit?"

"It's ready. It's up to Tyler now." Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Tyler had attacked the attorney.

"He's going for it," said Damon. One of the FBI agents entered Tyler's interrogation room. Tyler grabbed the agent's gun and shot himself in the shoulder.

"Get a medic!" A medic came in and injected Tyler with the solution Caroline had put in the kit. The defibrillator failed to initialize and Tyler passed away. Emma and Caroline then went down to forensics, Caroline in a hazmat suit.

"We're shipping out the glow stick," said Emma. "The irradiated Russian. He's CDC's problem now. Where is he?"

"In containment," said a doctor. "I thought that was scheduled for Monday."

"Well, you're welcome to hang on to him," said Caroline as she handed the man paperwork.

"Might as well make room for the new guy."

"This corpse is technically a biohazard so we're gonna need full protection. Which one of you would like to suit up?" Emma looked at the doctor who looked back at her.

"Really? Fine. I'll wear the pajamas," Emma sighed dramatically as the doctor left. Caroline unzipped Tyler's body bag. "He's gonna be fine, but we've got to get his vitals up right now." Emma switched out the barcodes on the two body bags while Caroline hooked Tyler up to a machine.

"Ric, we're ready."

"All right. Start with the first vial. The blue one. That's ethylmodine to counter the toxin you gave him. Two CCs."

"Two CCs. Got it."

"Not a drop more. This is a very delicate cocktail. Too much too fast, we'll lose him for real."

"Jenna, I'm moving the tag," said Emma.

"Due to an unfortunate paperwork snafu, the FBI has just shipped the wrong body to the CDC." Just as Caroline was finishing her procedure, Naomi entered.

"What are you doing?"

"Naomi," Emma whispered.

"Stop right there." She pulled her gun. "And you get away from him."

"Sorry. I can't do that."

"Naomi, we're not your enemy. Put the gun down please."

"This is not for you." She shot a vial and Emma punched her before knocking the gun out of her hand. Emma pushed the agent out into the hallway. She took several punches from Naomi. "The Collective?"

"One black badge deserves another." Emma kicked her.

"How long?"

"Five years in."

"Ric, he's seizing!" Caroline yelled.

"That last vial. How much did you get into him?"

"I don't think any! He has no pulse."

"Caroline, focus. He needs the rest of that cocktail. You're in a med lab. They gotta have the goods in there somewhere."

"Ric, how much again?" Caroline asked as she grabbed a syringe and pulled in the liquid that had been spilt with it.

"Two CCs."

"How fast?"

"Just keep it steady. I'll count you down."

"Go," Caroline said as she pushed the needle into Tyler's IV.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Stop. That's enough." Caroline finished just as Caroline threw a dagger into Naomi and Tyler inhaled. As Caroline moved Tyler out of the lab, Emma called Ops.

"Hey, Jenna, we need to add a Jane Doe to the forensics manifest," said Emma as she placed Naomi under a sheet. Later, Emma spoke with Matt in his office.

"I swore that when you and I took over The Syndicate that no new recruits would make the roster," said Emma.

"And I swore we wouldn't do outside missions for the government. But now with John gone, we've lost our buffer zone."

"What do you mean?"

"John was helping me get Danforth off our backs. He was gonna shoulder some of the cases that were earmarked for us. Now we gotta do 'em all."

"Great," Emma sighed. "Ric was right. History is repeating itself. This place is going to keep running whether we want it to or not."

"What's wrong with that? Look…The Syndicate is as good or as bad as the people running it. We can do it right this time."

"The Syndicate's always been illegal, like its agents. Silas and Esther would never admit that because we were the elite. We were the best of the best. Vampires and witches. We were superior. Anything that didn't meet their standards wouldn't do. If an agent was exposed on a mission, they were terminated. If they got injured too badly, they were put down like dogs. And if they formed relationships…Esther would never forgive that."

"But you do. And the people around here would take you over her any day. Me on the other hand…pure evil."

"Oh, yeah, evil," Emma laughed.

"To the core."

"Yeah, Silas' got nothing on you."

"Nothing."

"And your office, it's so much more intimidating without all those bronze bucking broncos."


	35. You Give Love A Bad Name

"Mikael Mikaelson is wanted in connection with the murder of the CIA director. After you left Naomi's body in the FBI morgue, people started asking questions," said Damon to Emma. "The FBI searched her apartment."

"They found an encrypted phone she used to communicate with her former Collective handler," Ric added.

"He's got at least three agencies after him, FBI, Interpol, and CIA."

"Esther's little game's caught up to him," Emma smirked.

"That's what happens when you get in bed with a schemer," said Ric.

"Let's fire up Shadownet and see if we can catch him breaking pattern," Damon suggested.

"Way ahead of you. Shadowbot coughed up a mention of Mikael Mikaelson on a phone call. Sounds like it was between an FBI agent and his C.I., some bartender in Brighton Beach."

"Mikael's wanted for killing an American official. What's he doing in Brooklyn?" Emma asked.

"FBI's got the same question," Ric replied before he played the phone call.

"It looks like the world's given him a beating. Says he's broke."

"Broke?"

"The mighty are not so mighty anymore."

"Keep him there. We're on our way."

"How long ago was that call?" Damon asked.

"Five minutes. Tactical's warming up the SUVs."

"So he's in Brooklyn. He's broke. Sounds like he's on the run. Em, why don't you seem too happy?"

"Because Mikael's alone."

"Still waiting for the not happy part," said Ric, echoing Damon's sentiments.

"Where is his beloved Esther? Why is he on the run and she's not?"

"She's not wanted by Interpol. She's got no reason to hide," Damon answered.

"Right. So why is she not hiding him?"

A few minutes later, Emma and Kol were on the scene at the bar in Brighton Beach. They spotted Mikael leaving out a back door.

"Nerd, he's on the run. Can you get him on the street cams?" Emma asked.

"Can do. Get mobile. I'll help you intercept." Kol and Emma got in the car and were shocked when they saw Mikael in the back seat.

"What took you so long?" he asked. Later, Emma walked into the interrogation room Mikael was being housed in. "I'm glad we can finally talk."

"You said you wanted to be safe. From who?"

"Esther."

"Oh. Trouble in paradise?"

"We're not together anymore. She doesn't know I'm here."

"Let me guess. You became a wanted man and she no longer wanted you."

"That's fairly accurate."

"Boo-hoo. You shouldn't have gotten in bed with her in the first place."

"Yes, well, that's the trouble with Esther, isn't it? She makes her bed and then one is forced to lie in it. A few days ago I returned from Europe to learn I was being sought by every major law enforcement agency on the planet. I was understandably agitated. One might say I came home to find another man in my bed."

"Who?"

"We'll get to that. Just know this. Like Naomi, he is an asset that Esther has taken and twisted to her own ends. I barely made it out of there."

"And you ran straight for The Syndicate? That's pretty desperate. Especially for you."

"Yes, well, you'll thank me for that once I tell you who she's working with. Esther's gone too far this time."

"All right. Who is this mystery asset?"

"Terrorist."

"Okay, terrorist. Who?"

"The answer to that question depends entirely on whether or not you're willing to make a deal."

"How did I know that was coming?"

"Emma, believe me…you have no idea what's coming. I'll give you a hint. The first attack will seem like a random act of violence. Small. Isolated. The target will be innocent average Americans. You'll know it when you hear about it, but you won't be able to stop it. Not without my help," said Mikael as an elevator bombing occurred in Pittsburgh.

"Uh-huh. And how much is that gonna cost?"

"50 million. Electronically transferred to the JSL Partner Bank of Switzerland, account number 569711008."

"50 million?" Emma chuckled.

"Correct."

"Dollars? Not Monopoly money?" She laughed. "That's awesome."

"Emma. Got a sec?" Matt asked, entering the room. The two of them left to see a news report on the big screen in Ops.

"This is an unbelievable scene. If you're just tuning in, as of right now, authorities are unclear of much of anything. Was it a disgruntled employee, a random assailant? There are reports, all of them unconfirmed, that a man in a business suit fled the scene," said a reporter.

"Ric, tap us into local first responders. See what they know," Damon ordered.

"On it."

"Pardon me. I'm just getting word that we are receiving a claim of responsibility, a transmission. It is streaming from the web right into CNN headquarters. Let's listen in."

"How's it feel?" said an individual whose voice and face were disguised. "Everything you love ripped away in a second. When it happens in America, it's called a national tragedy. When it happens in our countries, it's called collateral damage. Acceptable losses. A percentage some general signs off on before drones start flying. You send your troops, your helicopters, your drones, to kill your enemies, but you hit innocent people too. You say you want peace. Your so-called road to peace is splattered with our blood. Call us the Crimson Resistance. We don't know when death will come. Neither will you. The people we love were taken from us and we never had a chance to say good-bye. Neither will you."

"Tapped into CNN servers, got a line on that video stream. No way to trace it, but the packet encryption is definitely Syndicate signature," said Ric.

"How do you know that?" Matt asked.

"I wrote the algorithms."

"Which means Esther is on the other end of that broadcast, just like Mikael said she would be."

"Son of a bitch," Emma muttered. "He knows who this is and he's holding out for money?" She was prepared to charge back into that interrogation.

"Wait a second," said Matt. "Look, Mikael surrendered. Then he asked to be brought into The Syndicate, and then he tries to get 50 million out of us. He'd have to either be crazy or stupid and the man is neither."

"Well, he must have another move," said Damon.

"Maybe he's trying to raise money," Caroline suggested. "Build an army, break himself out of here."

"It doesn't matter. He's not gonna get 50 bucks, much less 50 million," Emma replied.

"I wouldn't give him 50 seconds," said Kol. "Give me an empty room and a pair of pliers. I'll use 'em to take off Mikael's fingernails, one by one. He'll break after his pinky."

"He's trained to resist torture," Damon countered.

"Mikael's a negotiator. Give me some more time with him. We still have a few moves of our own," said Emma before walking off.

"In the meantime, let's get you two on the ground in Pittsburgh," said Matt to Kol and Caroline. "See if we can't get some clues from the crime scene."

"You're not laughing anymore," said Mikael when Emma entered the interrogation room again.

"What does Esther get out of helping a bunch of terrorists?"

"Why does Esther do anything these days? You."

"She's trying to frame The Syndicate."

"You armed the Crimson Resistance to create a panic. The weapons they're using are the last few I purchased from Marcel, your former arms dealer. Oh, I assure you, the trail will lead right to The Syndicate's front door unless you end it now."

"For a price. What are you gonna do with $50 million? You can't spend it from a prison cell."

"The real question is how much are those innocent lives worth to you?"

"I don't put a price on life!" Emma banged the table.

"Then 50 million is a bargain."

"Then that would be for your life as well."

"My life?"

"Yeah. Or whatever you want to call spending the rest of your existence in a 7x12 foot box because no matter what you are never getting out of here." She left the room. Meanwhile, Kol and Caroline were on the ground in Pittsburgh.

"The attacker worked his way through the lobby. Security cameras were scrambled," said Caroline.

"Syndicate tech."

"Courtesy of Esther. They didn't ask for this. Just got caught up in somebody else's war."

"I think that was the idea. It's a good kill. Simple, but still a little bit dirty. Just like The Syndicate. Esther's teaching them well."

"Just like Esther taught us."

"Me, she just stuck with a needle."

"You still don't remember any of it?"

"Part of me's not sure I really want to. One thing I do remember is that Esther said I used to be a soldier. I'm her son and I killed all my friends."

"Kol, don't let her define you. Don't let anyone. She taught us. She taught them. Ric. Mikael said Esther gave the terrorists equipment. Maybe she gave them ghost phones."

"Yeah so?"

"You said that the video streaming used our encryption signature. Don't the phones?"

"Yes, but we can't trace them. That's the point."

"Just go with me. Can we find any evidence of the encryption on the cell towers around here?"

"Okay, the call logging in the towers at the time of the attack does show evidence of the encryption, but again…"

"We can't trace it. But if they were to use the phones and talk before the next attack, we might be able to trace where they're about to hit next."

"Sure if we jacked into every cellular network nationwide."

"Are you telling me that Shadowbot is not up to the task?"

"Bite your tongue, princess."

Emma continued her interrogation of Mikael.

"We do agree on one thing," said Emma.

"What's that?"

"You are a spy, not a terrorist."

"I like to get things done without firing a shot."

"I had a chance to kill you once. '06. A basketball game. You brought your son. Elijah. Or have you forgotten? I lied to The Syndicate. I told them that my rifle jammed. You owe me. I spared your life. I took care of you."

"You simply behaved exactly the way Esther thought you would. She called me. She told me to bring my son to the game. She knew you'd figure out a way to not murder me in front of him. Killer with a conscience."

"She told you to use your son as a prop? Was there no place she would draw the line?"

"We both used the relationship to our mutual benefit."

"She's been playing you from the jump, Mikael. Every single one of your plans has been derailed by her obsession with hurting me."

"Lately, yes."

"Then what are you waiting for? She ruined you. Let's bury her. All you have to do is give me the name and we can end this now. Esther is all the reason you need."

"Oh, I can think of 50 million more." Emma left and stormed into Matt's office where Matt and Damon were trying to think of a solid strategy.

"He's not budging. How did Caroline and Kol make out?" Emma asked.

"Nothing concrete," Matt answered.

"Just a plan to isolate the terrorist's phone which is a long shot, a very long shot. It looks like our only other option is to pay the son of a bitch," Damon added.

"Let's say we did."

"We ran that."

"Well, run it for me."

"The account Mikael mentioned is on a secure VPN. You put the money in and it gets walled off. It's only accessible through a dedicated satellite uplink."

"So we drop in the money and we track it. Ric can find it through satellite. We'll know where it's going and what it's for."

"Too risky," Matt shook his head.

"It's the federal government. It's 50 mil. It's a drop in the bucket."

"It would be if we were actually funded by the government."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"Oversight used to tear off little black budget earmarks for The Syndicate. Feed the dog under the table. Not anymore. The President doesn't want any taxpayer money flowing into this place."

"How do we have an operating budget?" Emma asked, stunned.

"We received some seed money which I grew into a sizeable pile of cash with Ric's help. Nothing illegal. Point is our operating budget is currently 53.6 million. We pay Mikael, we're running on fumes. So unless you want to start taking on mercenary jobs for profit paying up means shutting down."

The three of them then received news the terrorists had struck again.

"People are in shock. If you're just joining us, we are hearing that the Crimson Resistance has struck in the small town of Romeo, Michigan. No one is safe. Authorities still have no leads. Five dead, gunned down at a roadside stand. I've just been informed we're getting another message, a transmission that's coming into the CNN headquarters," said a reporter.

"From your biggest cities to your smallest farms, no one is safe. Many of you will now want to stay at home with your families, behind closed doors. It won't make a difference. The next attack will be in a normal suburb, in a normal house. Maybe yours," said the leader of the Crimson Resistance.

"My God. They're all random targets. How many more of these are coming?" Matt asked.

"This is the last one. Drag Mikael to The Dungeon! Now!" Emma yelled. Two agents headed down to Mikael's interrogation room and took him to Esther's dungeon. "The gloves are coming off," Emma hissed, black veins coming down her face and then quickly disappearing. Damon and Matt looked at each other concerned as Emma left. When she spotted Mikael chained to a chair, she punched him. Several times. Her hands stained in Mikael's blood. "Tell me the terrorist's name!" Emma shook her blood soaked hands off. "All you've gotta do is give me a name."

"All you have to do is pay." Emma removed her wedding ring and laid it on a stainless steel table. "$50 million. Countless lives saved. It's a simple transaction."

"You are not gonna see a dime. There is no way you win."

"Don't worry about me. Worry about Esther. If she wins, The Syndicate dies unless you pay." Emma punched him again. "Clock's ticking."

"Okay, I just flagged our encryption on a cell tower in Columbus, Ohio. If the terrorists are talking to each other, it's in this neighborhood," said Ric in Ops. "Damon?"

"It's too soon for another attack. The hits have all been in 24-hour intervals."

"Maybe it's an early call? They're prepping? It is in the suburbs like our whack job predicted."

"Do we have surveillance on sub-level 12?" Damon whispered to Ric.

"No cameras in The Dungeon. No one ever wanted to see what went on down there. Look, Emmy's just trying to do the same thing we all are…prevent the next attack. Just focus on that."

"You don't know what she's like when she's this angry. She…she lets the blood control her instead of controlling the blood herself. She could quite possibly kill him and then we'll have no leads."

"Go," said Tyler. "I'll cover for you here. Help coordinate the teams."

"Thanks."

"I can do this all day, Mikael," Emma warned.

"Forever. Is that what you think that ring means?"

"You getting delusional now, Mikael? You're tougher than that."

"Your sad attempt to build a life with Damon…that's how Esther and I started so many years ago. Now look at us. There's no forever in this business." Emma kicked him in the face.

"Insolent child. You know nothing of Damon and I and I suggest that if you want to keep your tongue that you consider your next words carefully." Emma removed a plastic wrapping, revealing several torture tools. "You know, Mikael, they used to call me Emmalyne the Bloody. I didn't get that nickname because of my fangs. I gained it when others discovered what I could do with a hot poker." She grabbed a plastic bag. "Let's get started." She put the plastic bag over his head.

"Emma," Damon warned.

"You gonna tell me to stop now, Damon? You afraid this is gonna end up like Sierra Leone?" Emma asked calmly, too calmly.

"Yes."

"Well, that was worth it. He was a little bastard. He pissed me off."

"Emma. That's enough!" He pushed her out of the way and ripped the bag off his head. Mikael gasped for breath.

"Why thank you, Damon…for lending me a hand." Emma grabbed a saw from another table.

"You've heard of an eye for an eye. How about a hand for a hand?" Emma asked.

"Emma, that's enough!" Damon ordered.

"Vierme dezgustător _(Disgusting little worm)_," Emma cursed in Romanian as she dropped the saw and paced the room.

"Mikael, you better give me that name now because I'm not gonna be able to hold her off of you much longer."

"The couple that tortures together stays together is that it, Damon? What was the code word? Sierra Leone? I've done too many versions of good cop/bad cop." Damon heard the door shut and knew Emma was gone. Damon placed his hand on Mikael's kneecap and crushed it.

"How do you know which one I am? I believe you've met Emmalyne the Bloody, but you have no idea what Damon the Vicious is capable of."

"If your relationship meant anything to either of you, you wouldn't be here."

Meanwhile, Caroline and Kol were driving down a street.

"Ops, we're on scene," said Caroline.

"The other three teams are in their sectors. Head east toward Tivoli Court. Assuming they're gonna try to make a quick escape like they have in the past, that street has the best egress toward the interstate," Tyler replied.

"Copy that. We're on the move."

"First Emma, now you," Kol chuckled.

"What's that?"

"I ride off with the cowgirl while the boyfriend stays back at the ranch."

"Kol Mikaelson. Designation: Third Wheel."

"Right. Thanks by the way. What you said back at the elevators. Eliza used to say stuff like that all the time, that I could change. That's why I got my butterfly tat. She said it was proof that…"

"People can have a second life."

"Yeah."

"Someone I knew used to say the same thing all the time."

"Is that why you got your ink?"

"She was a girl in the brothel. That's where they put me when I first came here. We shared a room. She said she would dream some nights about escaping by climbing to the roof and flying away on butterfly wings. One night she got high. She made it up there…to the roof and…she decided to try and fly. She's just like those people in the elevator. Innocent."

"I'm sorry."

"Guys, listen up. I think I just caught a whiff of our encryption on the local cell network. You should be right on top of it," said Ric.

"Ops, we may have something," said Caroline, seeing a silver SUV. "I'm gonna get out. Keep driving past." Caroline exited the car, her gun drawn, just as a woman opened the door to the SUV. A submachine gun was strapped to her shoulder. "Drop your weapon!" The terrorist went to shoot, but Caroline double-tapped her in the chest. "Where is he? Where's the man who gives you orders!" However, the woman was dead.

In a hallway outside The Dungeon, Emma and Damon were talking.

"The attacks will keep coming if we don't break him. Kol was right. He should have broken by now," said Emma.

"Maybe he's greedier than we thought."

"He's not gonna take this much abuse. No way. Doesn't matter how much money he thinks he's gonna make. What is he holding out for? What would you hold out for?"

"You."

"Seriously, Damon," Emma rolled her eyes.

"I am serious. The only reason to hold out is for someone you love."

"Yeah, but to say he loved Esther is a stretch and she left him anyway. So who does he have that…"

"What?" She walked back into The Dungeon.

"It's for Elijah," said Emma to Mikael. "That's who the money's for. You're holding out for your son.

"I'm trying to give my son a life. A real life, away from all this."

"50 million. That's quite a golden ticket."

"The money is for a trust and for his caretaker, an elite operative who will protect him from the likes of you or Esther."

"You should have told us. We would have protected him."

"Why? So you could use him against me? Or use us both as a lure to catch Esther?"

"I wouldn't have done that."

"You're my sworn enemy, Emma. Forgive me if I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Right. So instead you traded in on innocent lives, like your son's!"

"He didn't ask for any of this! He certainly didn't choose his birthright."

"You didn't have a plan to get out of here, did you?"

"You asked me what I call my future existence in a 7x12 foot box. I call it my fate. And I accept it."

"All right. Then accept this. We are not funded by the government anymore. I don't have that kind of money. And if your caretaker is not paid, the only thing standing between your son and Esther's retribution is me." Mikael closed his eyes in defeat.

"The terrorist's name is Saalim Nassar. A Yemeni-born American citizen. He was visiting his home country when a stray bullet from an American raid struck and killed his only daughter. I don't have his location, but I have his personal phone number. The Syndicate should be able to trace it."

After retrieving the number, Ric traced Saalim's location.

"We got him. Ric tracked his phone. He's in an apartment on the Upper West Side," said Damon to Emma.

"Grab team?"

"Caroline and Kol. They were already choppering back here, but they diverted and they're close."

"Good."

"Not good," Ric replied.

"What is it?" Damon groaned.

"News outlets are receiving another live broadcast."

"Some people say we should stop. We will not. As I speak, another attack is being prepared. When I am finished, I will signal them to continue," said a masked Saalim.

"Kol and Caroline will never make it," Emma said.

"Can we shut him off?" Damon asked.

"I got a better idea. Hack his software," Emma suggested.

"Copy that. Time for Toto to pull the curtain back on the Wizard." Ric removed the voice distortion and digital mask. Suddenly, blood sprayed across the lens. Esther had killed Saalim.

"Damon, this is the frame up Mikael was talking about."

A few minutes later, Caroline, Kol, and a grab team breached the apartment.

"All clear!" Caroline yelled.

"Better get cracking. FBI's on the way," said Ric as Kol placed a USB inside Saalim's laptop.

"Ric, are you sure this is gonna erase every trace of The Syndicate off this computer?" Caroline asked.

"Super clean, baby. Just like you like it." Caroline rolled her eyes.

"I'll clean the rest," said Kol. A few minutes later, Ric ran down to Emma who was in the empty Dungeon, looking at her still blood stained hands.

"Emmy! Emmy! I got an encrypted phone call. It's her. We got it upstairs."

"Yeah," Emma answered the phone.

"Word on the street is Mikael Mikaelson's been picked up by federal agents," Esther replied.

"Don't believe everything you hear."

"I know he's there and I know he's helping you."

"Is that why you called? To confirm a rumor?"

"I just have one question. Why the delay? You couldn't get Saalim's name out of him?"

"I didn't need to. You did that."

"I'm a hero just like you."

"Oh, Esther, you are gonna pay for the lives you took."

"You had the chance to kill me once before, Emma, but for some reason, you didn't."

"That was a mistake."

"I guess I have a target on my back now. Just like Elijah. Emma, are you still there?"

"You leave that boy out of this."

"Mikael betrayed me. The boy is fair game."


	36. Resistance

"We are running out of time. I have given you everything I know about Esther. Bank accounts, safe houses, contacts. Now get out there and use them to hunt her down before she finds my son," said Mikael as Emma sat opposite him at the interrogation table.

"Damon will run all this intel through Ops, but you haven't given me everything. Tell me small details about Esther, anything. You were together for what, twenty years?"

"She was different then, less unhinged."

"What changed her?"

"Moscow. You had a gun pointed at her, and you didn't shoot. You let her live and she found that self-righteous display of mercy to be humiliating. An insult she will never forgive you for. What I want to know is do you forgive yourself? If you had killed her, a lot of people would still be alive today."

"I don't get why we're helping this snake," said Kol from observation.

"After Esther and Mikael decrypted the remaining Black Box, they re-encrypted it with two keys, his and hers," Damon replied.

"How romantic."

"The point is without Mikael's password the box stays locked."

"So she grabs the kid, forces Mikael to give up the goods. One problem. We have this son of a bitch on lockdown. She wants to deal, she has to deal with us."

"Elijah Mikaelson is fifteen years old. We can't let an innocent be used as a bargaining chip." A few minutes later, Alaric and Caroline called Emma and Damon up to Briefing.

"Three hours ago. Shooting at the Markridge American School just outside Geneva. No students hurt. These dudes weren't so lucky. One of them's ex-Collective. They're both on the Esther henchmen roster," said Ric, showing Emma and Damon some crime scene photos.

"Private school," said Emma.

"You know, my father enrolled me under an alias in school to protect me from his competitors," Caroline replied.

"Witnesses say the shooter drove off with a student, 15-year-old Thomas Hoffman," said Damon.

"Elijah Mikaelson," Emma muttered. Emma and Damon went down to interrogation to inform Mikael of this latest development.

"His name is Amon Krieg, ex-German counterintelligence, retired. I hired him to protect my son because he's the best I've ever seen," said Mikael.

"Not exactly how I plan on spending my retirement, chaperoning someone else's kid," Damon remarked.

"Krieg gave his life to his work. He therefore had no life to retire to. Happens to the best of us."

"Let me get this straight. You pay this guy to essentially raise your son, and you have no way of getting in touch with him?" Emma asked.

"Yes. In case I was say tortured by my enemies in a secret underground bunker. Ever since I got into this business, I was a risk to my son. It was safer that I didn't know where he was and that Krieg checked in with me. There is one more complication. When I hired Krieg, I was running The Collective. The Syndicate was at the top of the list for potential threats."

"So what are you saying?"

"He won't know you're working with me. He is going to kill anyone that comes his way."

Later, Caroline and Emma were on the ground in Switzerland and were setting up shop in an old warehouse.

"All right, Shadowbot is shadow-botting. Until we get a vector on Krieg, finding Esther is our best bet," said Emma.

"I like this. Just the two of us in an old, abandoned staging area. Feels like old times."

"Right? No boys needing rescuing. Well, maybe one."

"There's always one. Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just something Mikael said."

"About his son?"

"No, about Esther. He said that when I let her live, it changed her. Thing is I wanted that. I was praying for it."

"You did what you thought was right."

"You know that thing Esther says about the real us being hidden from everyone?"

"There are two Carolines."

"Right. I was kind of hoping she was including herself in that group, that maybe there was a real Esther deep down that would come out if I showed her mercy."

"Maybe it did. Maybe the real Esther's worse. Where do you think Krieg's going?"

"He'll want some heat to pass and without money he'll need to hole up somewhere cheap. It's too cold to rough it outside."

"Especially with the boy. Motel?"

"Close to the airport. Let's start making some calls. How's your French these days?"

"Tres bien. How's your German?"

"Sehr gut." After a few calls, Emma pinpointed their location. "Got him. Chalet Tranquille. 30 rooms occupied. Two paid cash. One was a father and son."

At The Syndicate, Damon was at the shoot range.

"Damon, what the hell, man?" Kol asked, walking in.

"What is it now, Kol?" Damon groaned.

"You send Emma and Caroline to chase Esther with no backup? Why didn't you send me?"

"Because there's a chance they run into Esther. The last time you ran into Esther, she was able to neutralize you just by saying a word. Esther is your mother. This is too personal for you."

"Let me talk to Mikael. They were partners in crime. He knows what she knows."

"Again, too personal. The last time you saw Mikael, he stabbed you in the back. You might want revenge."

"I don't care about all that. I want to know who I was before Esther took that from me. You know what, I don't even know why I'm asking you. You're not even in charge. I'll ask Matt."

"Matt's not here. He's overseas trying to shore up our funding. Tyler's with him for protection or I'd send him to Switzerland with Emma and Caroline. Look, when this op is completed, I will try to schedule some time for you to talk with Mikael. He's not going anywhere." Kol left and then unlocked the door to Mikael's interrogation room.

"Kol, I knew it was only a matter of time."

"Who am I?"

"Oh, are we going to play a game?"

"Yeah. It's called 'Tell the truth.' It's your turn and the clock's ticking."

"Indeed. How long do you think you have before they check on me?"

"Long enough for you to tell me who I was before Esther wiped my memory."

"I have no idea."

"If I don't get answers, I'm going to make what Emma did to you look like a love tap."

"I understand your curiosity about who you were because who you are is such a disappointment," he chuckled. Kol glared at him. "Very well. I believe Esther said something about you being a soldier."

Meanwhile, Emma and Caroline had arrived at the motel room Krieg and Elijah were supposed to be in. Emma knocked on the door.

"Krieg, my name's Emma. I'm here on behalf of Mikael Mikaelson. I'm unarmed. Just here to talk." Slowly, she opened the door and entered the room. It was empty. "Decoy room. He's watching us." Caroline spotted someone in the room next door. They moved toward the adjoining room when Krieg appeared behind them with a gun.

"Don't move."

"We're not here to hurt Elijah," said Caroline.

"Who do you work for?"

"The man who pays you. I can get him on the phone," said Emma. Elijah suddenly came out of the room. While Krieg was distracted, Emma disarmed and threw him off the balcony onto a car. Quickly, they took Elijah's son.

"We should go back for Krieg. He could be hurt," said Elijah when they reached the warehouse.

"Krieg is ex-German special forces. He's fine. He can take care of himself."

"Guess you know more about him than I do. So what now? You take me to my father?"

"Don't sound so thrilled," Caroline replied.

"I'm not. My whole life I've been running from the name Mikaelson."

"Believe it or not I know how you feel."

"Because you're a Fedorov? Tell me, if my father wanted to rescue me, why isn't he here?"

"It's complicated," Emma answered.

"Funny. That was the answer he always gave."

Meanwhile, Ric called Damon into Ops, a bit concerned.

"Hey, Damon. I've been calling interrogation, but there's no answer."

"Really? Start Emma and Caroline's ex-fil." He walked down to Mikael's interrogation room, but saw that it was locked.

"That's all I know," said Mikael inside.

"That's it? That's nothing. I was stationed overseas where I committed a crime that I was court-martialed for? Where overseas? What crime? Esther said I killed all my friends."

"Maybe she was lying to you."

"Maybe you are." He pinned Mikael to a wall and punched him in the stomach.

"You were part of a special operations team sent on a secret mission to recover technology from the wreckage of a German U-boat found frozen in the north polar ice cap."

"Kol! Open the damn door!" Damon yelled.

"It was a five-man operation of which you were the only survivor because what you discovered on that submarine was not of this Earth."

"Kol, let him go," said Damon, finally breaching the door.

"Wait, he's telling the truth."

"No, I'm not. Could you come and take him now please?" Mikael asked. "Kol, I told you the truth the first time. I don't know who you were, but you wouldn't listen so I had to make that story up to buy time, like Scheherazade." Kol threw Mikael on the table. Before Kol could do any more damage, Damon punched Kol in the face with his robotic hand.

"By the way, I learned how to make that fist."

In Switzerland, Emma and Caroline were prepping to leave the country.

"Wheels up in an hour."

"I thought I saw something," said Elijah.

"Emma?" Caroline asked. Emma spotted a man enter with a gun and they both started shooting as Caroline got Elijah to safety.

"Stay here and don't move!" However, Elijah ran. "Elijah!"

"Go get him. I'll cover you!"

"They've got Elijah. They're driving him out of here," said Caroline a few minutes later on her com.

"Get after them. I'll catch up with you," said Emma as both her and Esther's guns jammed. Esther moved to reload, but Emma appeared in front of her and knocked the gun out of her hands. Emma then threw her over a table, knocking her out. However, a gun clicked behind her and Krieg knocked her out. When Emma woke up, she was tied to a chair next to Esther.

"Hi. This is an interesting reunion," said Esther.

"Sorry about the face. When I get these restraints off, I'll even out the other side." Krieg entered the room.

"Thank God you came when you did. She would have killed me."

"Krieg, I understand what you're doing. I do, but you don't have to. We're on the same side."

"Is that why you threw me off the balcony?"

"Ouch," Esther muttered.

"You attacked me."

"No, I defended my charge. You took him from me and now I'm going to get him back."

"She has Elijah. She has him now."

"Where did she take him?"

"I don't know."

"Because it's not true," Esther lied.

"At first, I thought there was one team after Elijah. Now it's clear there are two. I'm not interested in your conflict. All I care about is the boy and one of you has him. You can tell me or I can make you tell me."

"I can prove I'm working with Elijah's father," Emma replied. "Let me call him."

"So your people can trace our location and I can talk to a man under duress? No. How many more are with you in Geneva?"

"Just my partner. That's it."

"She's lying. She has an entire organization at her back," Esther countered.

"But I saw you at the school and you had, what, five men? Mercenaries by the look of it. Not exactly top of the line. I suppose you are also trying to protect the boy."

"Of course."

"You don't protect someone by shooting at them."

"Exactly. Krieg, let me go and we'll make her take us to him. Do it now before her people move him!"

"You'll just be walking into a trap. Your money has run out because she's taken Mikael prisoner."

"And the lies continue."

"I know things only Mikael knows. I know when he hired you. He told me about Berlin. Even what happened to your wife and I'm so sorry. I would never disrespect her memory, but, please, you have to believe I am telling the truth. If Mikael didn't trust me, how could I know these things? Let me help you. For your sake, for Mikael's, for Elijah's."

"How about we just call Mikael? I'll get him on the phone and then he can tell you about his friend here. Esther the sociopath."

"Yeah." Krieg grabbed a satellite phone and gave it to Emma. "You have 90 seconds before any kind of trace can find us."

"Emma, where are you?" Damon answered.

"Krieg has me and Esther. He needs to talk to Mikael and he'll end this call in 80 seconds."

"Route that call to my cell, Ric." Damon ran down to Medical, but Mikael was still out of it. "Wake him up. Now!"

"Damon!"

"He's coming around. He was knocked out. There was a thing with Kol."

"I'm out of time."

"Krieg, I know you are listening to me. Just give me one…" Krieg ended the call and Damon knocked over a table. He walked over to Kol across the hallway. "If anything happens to Emma, I am going to kill you."

"Both of you are trying to convince me that you are telling the truth. I just want to find Elijah. You only need so much. The rest I will take from you piece by piece." He powered up an electric saw.

"Krieg, you don't want to do this," said Emma.

"No, I truly don't. But I will."

"There are other ways."

"You are right. This is one." Krieg's cell phone then rang. "Ah. Looks like someone found the bread crumb I left. Go ahead."

"Krieg, where is Emma?" Caroline asked over her phone.

"That depends. Where is Elijah?"

"I have him. He's safe with me."

"Then if you have him, put him on."

"Let me talk to Emma first."

"Stay where you are. I'll meet you. Then we'll discuss a trade." Krieg then left. Emma noticed cables were wired to oil cans. She pounded the legs of her chain into the cables.

"What are you doing?" Esther asked, annoyed.

"Just watch. You can learn a thing or two when you leave your lair." The cable ripped open, revealing wire. "Now. I need you to cut me."

"What?"

"Blood. It's basically salt water, a conductor. It'll short the wire and ignite the oil cans."

"You must be joking."

"I am not. I can't do it alone. I need your help. So dig deep, unless you want to volunteer your own blood." Esther dug her nails into Emma's hand, penetrating the skin. Emma fisted her hand and blood dripped onto the wire, causing it to spark and ignite the oil cans.

"Oh. Okay. I get it. The fire ignites the oil, the oil combusts, the explosion blows the door and then we get out of here, right?"

"No. I just started a fire. Hopefully, someone will see it and call the fire department."

"Hopefully? What if they don't get here in time?"

"Then we both die a horrible death and in my book that's a glass-is-half-full scenario."

At The Syndicate, Mikael was fully awake when Damon approached him.

"We really need your help."

"Elijah?"

"He was captured by one of Esther's crew."

"Where the hell is Emma?"

"Just please focus on this. Caroline flagged these men as Esther's operatives in Geneva."

"She's reduced her contingent. Never could stretch a buck."

"Do you recognize any of them?"

"This man I know. Anatoli Oslov, ex-Collective."

"Do you remember his phone number?" Mikael gave him the number and Ric relayed the information to Caroline.

"Ric, this guy's a no-show," Caroline said.

"Never mind the German. We've got a new lead. Mikael got us a beat on one of Esther's flunkies. We traced his cell. I'm uploading the location to you now. That'll be where they have Elijah. Get the kid."

"And make the trade. I'm on my way." She took off and Krieg followed her in his car.

Meanwhile, a fire was raging in the warehouse Emma and Esther were trapped in.

"So this is how it ends. Just like it began," said Esther.

"We didn't meet in a fire."

"I'm not talking about you, you idiot. Although I guess one version of Emma was born in the fire, the rogue Emma."

"When I saved Caroline."

"And defied the people who made you."

"Made me? Esther, you taught me skills. I passed some of them on to Caroline, but you didn't make me any more than I made her."

"You made her and like everything else you love, she will turn against you."

"Who made you, Esther? How did it begin?"

"Oh, I am so much worse than all you bitches put together."

"Tell me. Tell me!"

"You think you're the only one with daddy issues?" Sirens wailed in the distance and firefighters knocked down the door. They quickly retrieved Emma and Esther, barely alive. When one of the firefighters gave Emma oxygen and went to get a medic, Emma threw away the mask and stole the ambulance.

Meanwhile, Caroline was confronting Krieg when her phone rang.

"Caroline, we have Emma on the line," said Damon when she answered. "Krieg is on the way."

"He's here with me."

"Esther got free too," said Emma. "I don't know where she is. You have to find Elijah before she moves him."

"What about Krieg?"

"We have Mikael here. They should talk."

"Call the number I gave you." Krieg's phone rang.

"Amon, it's Mikael. They're telling the truth," said Mikael when Krieg answered his phone. "You can trust them as far as Elijah is concerned."

"The question is can I trust you, my old friend?"

"No one is holding a gun to my head. I'm just worried about Elijah. The woman who's with you should be able to help. Get him back, Amon. Keep him safe."

"I will." He ended the call and lowered his gun on Caroline. "Enough nonsense. Let's get the boy back, yes?"

"Yes."

Quickly, Krieg and Caroline retrieved Elijah.

"What's she doing here?" Elijah asked.

"It's a long story," Krieg replied.

"We have to go. More will be coming," said Caroline. "I'll handle the remaining men. Take the maintenance tunnel. Emma will meet you there. I've already called the police. Go!" Krieg and Elijah escaped to the ambulance Emma was in.

"Caroline is okay, Emmy. She's been taken into custody," said Ric.

"Good."

"I am very sorry about the confusion," Krieg said to Emma.

"I did throw you off a balcony."

"Yeah. That didn't help. Your plan for the boy. It wasn't to take him to his father, was it?"

"We hadn't figured that out yet. Your father is going to prison for a very long time."

"Now that Elijah has new papers I have some ideas on where to go. But all of this is not up to me. I think it's time for Elijah to decide what happens. It is, after all, his life."

"Well, it's yours too. You sure you don't want to retire on a beach somewhere?" Elijah asked as Emma moved to the front of the ambulance.

"Maybe when you're in college."

"Look who found his sense of humor."

"There would be some ground rules."

"I don't doubt it," said Elijah as Emma called Mikael and let him listen in to the conversation.

"In matters of security, I have the final word. That's nonnegotiable, no arguing."

"After the past couple days, that's cool by me."

"We can patch you through to say goodbye," said Damon to Mikael. Mikael shook his head.

"Thank you for saving my son." Guards took Mikael back to his interrogation room. Damon then went to a former recruit room that had been remodeled with a glass holding cell.

"Emma?" Kol asked from behind the glass wall.

"She's all right. We're getting her out of Geneva now."

"I'm sorry. This whole Esther thing. It just got the best of me, you know?"

"Save it. From here on out, you're off of active duty."

"Until when?"

"Until I say so."

In the ambulance, Elijah was asleep in the back while Krieg and Emma were upfront, heading toward the airport.

"I've been there too. You protect someone out of a sense of duty and then when it becomes more, it surprises you. All right, Ric, let's go and get Caroline," said Emma.

"Mocking up extradition orders now. We may be able to intercept her before we gotta pay bail."

However, the police car Caroline was in stopped after another police car's siren went off behind him. The officer got out and was then shot…by Esther. Esther entered the car.

"Looks like I'm not leaving Geneva empty-handed after all," she smirked. "Let's see how well she taught you."


	37. Better Said

"Okay, I want admin-level access to the Swiss PD!" Ric yelled. "What they see, we see! Heidi yodels in the woods and someone phones in a noise complaint, I want to know about it!"

"It's been eight hours. She could have crossed the border by now," said Damon.

"What was that exit strategy again?" Tyler asked.

"No exit strategy. Cops were improvised," Emma answered.

"Was that her call or was that yours?"

"Hers. Why does it matter?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how the hell Esther pulled Caroline out of the back of a police car when just an hour earlier, you were sitting three feet away from her."

"Because you think the answers are so easy."

"No, I think Caroline is in danger again."

"It doesn't matter what the exit strategy was," Damon interrupted. "We are going to find her."

"Damon's right. Esther's not gonna kill her. If she wanted that, she would have done it on the spot," said Matt. "She has a plan."

"I got her. I got Esther," said Ric.

"Put it on the map," said Damon.

"No, I mean I got Esther on the line. She's calling in." A video call came in.

"Hello, Emma."

"It's prerecorded. I can't trace it."

"I don't know about you, but I found Switzerland to be very fruitful. I may not have gotten what I came for, but I walked away with something far more valuable. I guess that's the thing about being on the run. You never know when things will suddenly turn your way. The offer I'm going to make should be relatively easy for you. Hand Mikael over to me and I'll give you Caroline. I'm sending the coordinates for the exchange. Be there in 48 hours or Caroline dies." A few minutes later, Emma and Damon played the same video for Mikael.

"You're not seriously considering this, are you?" he asked.

"Why not? She's right for once. It'd be an easy trade," said Emma.

"I have the code for decrypting the Black Box. You hand me over to her, you'll be giving her the key to all of your government's darkest secrets."

"She had access to the box's contents before," said Damon. "We survived."

"Yes, that's because I kept her in check. What do you think she'll do with that information now? She'll topple presidents. She'll cause global conflict. She'll wipe out The Syndicate without even blinking."

"That's tomorrow's problem," Emma replied. "Today we save Caroline."

"I'm assuming it's not even a consideration that you'll be signing my death warrant."

"You should have picked your girlfriend better," Damon quipped. "Of course, you can give us the password to the Black Box. That'll give us a chance to negotiate, give her the code without turning you over."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't actually have the code. I am the code. It's a subliminal password. The security system only unlocks after I perform a series of tasks on the computer, very much like playing a video game. It's a double lock, so Esther needs to do the same. The software detects patterns that we ourselves are unaware of."

"You guys are just too clever for your own good, aren't you?"

"Yes, while my death may be meaningless to you, there are a few things I'd like to point out."

"Relax, Mikael," Emma interrupted. "We are trading you for Caroline. But we'll get you back. As much as you deserve it, we're not gonna let Esther get her claws into you."

"Why not?" Damon asked.

"Because…screw Esther." Damon and Emma then went up to Briefing.

"Esther sure knows how to choose her vacation spots. The coordinates she sent lead to South Ossetia. Look up hostile environment in the dictionary, and I'm pretty sure they're using stock shots from here. War in '08 pretty much left the place a smoking ruin, Russians and Georgians still in armed conflict, organized crime groups profiting from the chaos. It's like the Wild West if the Wild West had AKs and vodka," said Ric.

"That's why she picked this place for the meet. She's out of manpower. This levels the playing field," Emma realized.

"Great. We'll go in small and quiet – just Emma and Tyler," said Damon.

"And Kol," Matt added.

"Kol's in lockup. I put him there after he assaulted a guard."

"We need him. We're taking a flight risk through a hostile theater. It's more than a two-man op."

"The guy's a bull. I thought you wanted to go in quiet," Tyler replied.

"Kol will be fine," Emma countered. "We could use him when we recover Mikael."

"We're recovering Mikael?" Ric asked.

"After we get Caroline back. We can't let Esther use him to unlock the box."

"Right, but Caroline is the priority," Matt nodded. A few hours later, Damon was pacing in Ops.

"Status report," he said.

"Team touched down in South Ossetia 18 minutes ago. They're headed to pick up their baggage," Ric replied.

At the airport, Emma was checking in with two security guards.

"Eto vash paket? _(Is this your package?)_" one of the guards asked.

"Da. Semeynyy biznes _(Yes. Family business)._" Security agents opened up a coffin, revealing a seemingly dead Mikael. "Dyadya Sasha. _(Uncle Sasha.)_" Security signed off and Kol and Tyler loaded the coffin into a truck. "On byl tak molod. _(He was so young.)_"

"He's going to be so dead if you don't revive him in the next ten minutes after which the tetrodotoxin will kill him for realsies," said Ric through Emma's com.

"Mikael looks kind of peaceful dead," said Emma.

"Let's leave him that way," said Kol from the front of the truck as Tyler started the engine.

"Sorry, I don't think Esther's gonna trade for a mostly dead Mikael."

"If they stay on the back roads, they should avoid the military checkpoints," said Ric to Damon.

"Good. Let me know when they reach the city."

"Jen, you getting any EM interference out of that airport?"

"Negative. All clear on my end."

"Okay, cycle the channels on the trackers. I think whatever primitive transmission standards they're using out there in the land that time forgot might be messing with our signals."

"You know, maybe you should go back there and help Emma with the revival process. It can get a little bit tricky," said Tyler.

"I'm pretty sure she's okay. She's better at this kind of stuff than anybody," Kol replied.

"So what's your deal, man? Are you just this guy who latches on to women that he knows he can't have?"

"Excuse me?"

"Emma, Caroline."

"You got your signals majorly crossed."

"I was on the coms when you guys were tracking those terrorists. I heard your little heart-to-heart."

"I don't know what you think you heard, but we were having a conversation, like people do, nothing more."

"Sure about that?"

"Yeah, I am and if you're not, maybe your problem's not with me. Maybe your problem's between you and Caroline. You know what? Maybe I will give her a hand. Why don't you pull over right here?" Tyler stopped the car and Kol got into the back.

"So where are we?" Mikael asked, awakening once they were back on the road.

"Welcome to South Ossetia," said Emma.

"South Ossetia? That's not good."

"Wasn't exactly our choice. Here. Stay hydrated. The tetrodotoxin can do a number on your electrolytes. And if we get stopped, stay quiet. Let us do the talking."

"You try anything, Esther won't get a chance to rip you apart," said Kol. "I'll do it first."

"You know, it's no wonder you lost your memories. Your brain had insufficient power to hold on to them." Kol began to move, but Emma stopped him. "If we get stopped, my silence might not be enough."

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked.

"Kaminski's defense contractors played a major role in the South Ossetian war. They had me accompany some weapons systems here as a consultant. I won't go into the details. Suffice it to say, I'm not a very well liked man around these parts."

"Why? What'd you do?" Kol asked.

"They may believe I'm responsible for a massacre…or two." Kol sighed. "I told you. South Ossetia. Not good."

In The Syndicate, Ric was still getting the same signal readings he was concerned about at the airport. He walked to Jenna's station.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Did you modify those tracker signals?"

"Yeah."

"I'm still getting that weird interference."

"It's narrowband in origin. It looks like there's another signal coming from inside their truck."

"Inside the truck? What kind of signal could be coming from in—"

"Do you recognize it?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He called Ric. "Damon, we got to talk." After revealing his suspicions, Damon and Ric stormed into Matt's office.

"You put a kill chip in Mikael Mikaelson's head!" Damon yelled.

"Yes, I did," Matt sighed. "During the tetrodotoxin procedure. I did it to save Emma's life. It was never a question that we were gonna do this mission. Caroline's life depends on it. But we need to be clear about what we're talking about. Giving Esther the Black Box."

"Yeah, we understand the consequences."

"That's why we're rescuing Mikael after we get Caroline back so she can't use him to decode the box, right?" Ric asked.

"Give me your honest tactical evaluation of that plan."

"It will be tough, but…"

"It's a dog," Matt interrupted Damon. "High risk, low probability of success. Esther will be on the move. She'll have protection. She'll be on guard. No. The smart play is to…"

"Kill Mikael after we make the trade for Caroline."

"Kill Mikael and the code dies with him."

"Why did you keep us in the dark? We could have built a mission plan around that."

"Because Emma never would've let that happen," Ric realized. "She would have insisted on saving him. She's Emmy. That's why you sent Kol. He's the triggerman. He hates Mikael."

"Emma can't know. For her own safety."

"You're gonna tell her, right?" Ric asked Damon.

"Matt's right. She'll risk her life for him."

"You have to tell her."

"No! I do not like that you did this behind our backs, but I understand why you did it in the first place. But now that it is done, we have got to keep this quiet."

That night, Tyler stopped the truck.

"Ric says there's a weapons cache at a dead drop in the village. It's not that far," said Tyler.

"Kol, why don't you go with Tyler, back him up? It's okay. I'll be all right with Mikael," said Emma.

"Yes, I understand these small-minded tasks are usually reserved for you, Kol, but I'm sure Emma can handle this on her own," Mikael smirked.

"The only drawback to turning you over to Esther is that I won't get to watch you die," Kol spat.

"Okay," Emma warned before Kol took off with Tyler. "Why? Why do you do that? Is it necessary?"

"I don't know. There's just something about him that draws it out of me. For the life of me, I don't understand what you see in him."

"There's more to Kol than you think."

"Esther was right. Your compassion will be your downfall."

"Esther is not right about anything."

"She has her blind spots, but she excels at ferreting out the weakness of people. With you, she's aiming directly for the heart."

"Only Esther could use love as a weapon."

"As I recall, when you needed some information on Saalim, you were very quick to use my son's safety as leverage."

"That wasn't…I wasn't trying to…"

"I'm not looking for an explanation or an apology. I know the rules of the game. This is the life we've chosen and that's also why I know there will be no rescue for me."

"Mikael, I'm not playing a con."

"No?"

"No."

"I've run the scenario in my head. Tactically, it doesn't make any sense. If I was in Matt Donovan's shoes, I wouldn't authorize the mission. However you parse this, it ends with my death." The following morning, Mikael was nursing an excruciating headache. "Esther's bullet would be a welcome relief for this headache." Emma looked at the back of Mikael's head.

"Move your head." Emma peeled back a band-aid that resembled skin. She saw a red scar. "Son of a bitch."

"What is it?" Emma walked down to the end of the truck.

"Ric, there's a kill chip in Mikael's head!"

"No, wait a minute."

"Don't lie to me. You knew about this."

"No, no. That's crazy."

"Ric!"

"She knows," Ric whispered to Damon.

"How?" Damon whispered back.

"I don't know."

"Ric, answer me!" Emma yelled.

"Yeah, Damon wants to talk to you."

"You're dead," Damon glared at Ric before taking the call.

"You put a kill chip in his head when the doctors put him under!"

"Matt did."

"Get him on the line!"

"Emma, listen to me."

"No, we agreed. The plan was to get Caroline and recover Mikael."

"The plan is too risky. We could lose the Black Box. But more importantly, we could lose you."

"How are you gonna trigger it? There's no way to know from Ops when the trade was done. You would need someone…" She turned to Kol. "Kol."

"Why should we let this bastard live? Have you forgotten how many times he's tried to kill us?"

"No, I haven't and he'll pay for his crimes, but not like this."

"Why not? This is what he deserves."

"I got something going on up here," said Tyler. Rebels fired into the front window of the truck and Tyler dodged just in time. The truck squealed to a halt and the rebels forced them out of the truck.

"Menya zovut Mikael Mikaelson. Sushchestvuyetnagrada za moyu zakhvata. Dvadtsat' tysyach yevro. (_My name is Mikael Mikaelson. There is a reward for my capture. Twenty thousand Euros.)_," Mikael said to the men in an attempt to save Emma from being killed.

"Ya slyshal oRossii Mikaelson d'yavola. Pochemu vy riskuyete v Yuzhnuyu Osetiyu? _(I have heard of the Russian devil Mikaelson. Why did you risk coming to South Ossetia?)_"

"Staraya podruga. _(An old girlfriend.)_"

"Privesti russkiy. Drugiye...ubivat'. _(Bring the Russian. The others…kill.)_" Mikael then punched one of the rebels. Using the distraction, Tyler, Emma, Mikael, and Kol took out the others.

"Mikael. Why'd you save us?" Emma asked.

"I saved myself. It was the only way I could see not ending up facedown in a ditch. The way I see it, my options are rather limited. If I had let you die, the Ossetians would have hung me in the nearest town square or handed me over to Esther. Either way, you are still my best hope for coming out of this alive. Besides, if you die, Esther wins. And to quote your eloquence, 'screw Esther.'"

He got into the back of the truck and Emma walked over to Kol. He handed her the trigger to Mikael's kill chip. Emma and Tyler got in the back and Kol started the truck. A few minutes later, they made it into the city.

"Lots of eyes, lots of hardware," said Kol as they all got out of the truck.

"That's what Esther wants. If we try anything, this place erupts. After the exchange, Esther's not gonna stick around. She's gonna have ex-fil ready," said Emma.

"I can track Mikael's kill chip within a five-mile radius. If we stay close, we'll be okay."

"She'll have security. At least until she's out of the country."

"Intercept, takedown, extract. By my count, this is a four-man job. Anything less, we got a high risk of failure," said Tyler.

"We're getting Caroline back. We're going in at full strength."

"Got 'em. Esther and Caroline plus one," said Kol, spotting them across the street.

"I'm not leaving here without you," said Emma to Mikael. "Come on." Mikael and Emma walked toward Esther.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked Caroline.

"Yeah, it's been a regular holiday."

"It's good to see you, Mikael," said Esther.

"Can't say the same."

"No point in drawing this out," said Esther. Caroline was released into Emma's custody and Mikael went with Esther's guard. "They say with any good trade, both parties leave a little disappointed."

"I'm not disappointed at all," Emma replied.

"Really? Then maybe I didn't ask for enough. Or maybe you underestimated how much you've given up. I certainly haven't."

"Kol, they're on the move. Find her transport," said Emma once Esther left.

"They're in a black van. Headed west by southwest. She's got an armed escort."

"We're going to recover Mikael."

"What? No. No, there's a woman who was helping me and she's hurt. She's being held prisoner by the military. I said that we would save her," said Caroline.

"Okay. We'll get her after."

"No, she's dying. She doesn't have time."

"Caroline, Esther's gonna use Mikael to open the Black Box. We have to get to her before that happens."

"Okay, then you go. I'm going back for Larissa."

"Caroline, we need you. We can't do this unless we go in full force."

"There's another option. Use the trigger," said Tyler.

"What trigger?" Caroline asked.

"Mikael has a kill chip. Emma could end the threat of the Black Box right now."

"No," Emma replied.

"Why not?" Caroline asked.

"Because we don't sacrifice people, we save them!"

"That's what I'm trying to do!"

"Mikael is the priority."

"Why because you say it is?"

"Caroline, please. We need you." Caroline walked away and Tyler followed her. "Caroline!"

"Let 'em go. Let's go get Mikael. Come on," said Kol.

"According to their trackers, Emma and Kol have split off," said Ric to Matt in Ops.

"Kol, why haven't you activated the contingency plan?" Matt asked.

"Because Emma has the trigger."

"Emma, I want you to listen to me. Activating that kill chip is the only smart course of action."

"Can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't make that choice. Or have you forgotten that we're not that kind of Syndicate?"

"Emma, it's just you and Kol. You cannot pull this off," said Damon. She threw her com out the window and Kol smiled. "Emma? Emma!"

"Like I said. She's Emmy," Ric replied. That night, Emma and Kol arrived at Esther's hideout.

"No cover. We can't take 'em in one strike," said Kol.

"She's got another man in that van."

"We need a flanking team to set up a crossfire. But we don't have 'em. I'll handle the soldiers. You take the van."

"You can't take them all on, not by yourself."

"I'm not going to take them on." He shot off a few rounds and ran. The guards went in pursuit of Kol. Emma killed Esther's guard and Mikael jumped out of the van after hitting Esther with a laptop. He ran toward Emma, but Esther shot him in the back. He fell to the ground just as Esther escaped in the van.

"Don't try to talk," Emma said.

"It's the life we've chosen. It's…" Emma closed her eyes as his final breath left him. Tears came to her eyes as she saw he had grabbed the Black Box. The next day, both teams arrived back at The Syndicate. Tyler and Caroline had been unsuccessful in saving Larissa.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emma asked Damon in the auto bay.

"You wouldn't have listened."

"So you kept me out of the loop!"

"It wasn't my call, but for the record, I think Matt was right. It was a bit risky. We could have lost everything. I could have lost everything."

"You know, say what you will about Mikael, but in the end he's one of Esther's victims and if we're not in the business of saving people from Esther's cruelty, then what are we doing, Damon? I told him I would save him and he knew he was lost. Caroline left. And we lost." Caroline then walked in.

"I'll be in Ops," Damon said before leaving.

"So…" Caroline began.

"So…" Matt exited the elevator then.

"I just want to say job well done," Matt smiled. "Look, I know we had some differences over tactics, but we got Caroline back and we recovered the Black Box. And I cannot argue with those results. You guys really do make a great team." He left. Caroline and Emma looked at each, the tension palpable.


	38. I Will Follow You Into The Dark

"Pierre Batouala. Current president of Chad, thanks to the CIA. Last night, his status went from Blue to Red. He'll be our first official target for the government," said Matt.

"John Little was his CIA handler. He was found dead in an alley in Paris yesterday. Just before his death, Little stole a list containing the names of every covert American operative working overseas in the oil industry," Damon added.

"If Batouala proves CIA involvement, he can kick the American oil companies out of his country and make a sweetheart deal with the Russians."

"He's attending a reception in Paris tomorrow night. There he'll hand over the file to a Russian intelligence officer."

"We need to take Batouala out at the party and retrieve the list before he meets with the Russians."

"You're talking about another assassination. Something we keep saying The Syndicate doesn't do anymore," Caroline argued.

"The list changes things. Batouala's seen it. American agents all over the world will be exposed if we don't find him and make that list disappear," Emma replied.

"So go do your magic trick for the President. You don't need me."

"What now? Our resident Russian oil heiress was supposed to be the way in," said Matt.

"The Syndicate managed long before there was a Karolina Fedorov. Get me a way into the party. I'll deal with Batouala myself." A few minutes later, Ric met Emma in the hallway.

"Emma, what are you doing?"

"Come on, you've read the file. Batouala's not some innocent. He runs a corrupt government who tortures and murders anyone who gets in his way."

"Sounds like half the people on the President's speed dial."

"You know what? Forget I asked. Damon can run the op without you."

"I think that was probably a bit of an overstatement, but I'm sure he's gonna try his very best." Ric patted her shoulder and left just as Caroline walked up to Emma.

"Paris mission's still on," she said.

"If we don't go through with this, a lot of innocent people could die."

"People inside the CIA or the people inside of here?"

"Both."

"So you're trying to win over Danforth and the President. As long as they see The Syndicate as an asset, they won't try and wipe us out."

"If it's the life of one really bad guy versus 300 lives, guess who loses?"

"We're supposed to be cleaning this place up, Emma, not making it dirty again."

"It's not like it was before. No one's holding a gun to anyone's head anymore. I have the gun now and I choose when and if I want to use it. It's under control."

"As long as the government is calling the shots, we'll never be in control." As the two parted ways, Ric poked his head out of another hallway, having heard the entire conversation. Meanwhile, Matt was on his phone in his office.

"Commander Danforth, we are go on your mission."

"I told the CIA to back off Batouala, worry instead about extracting their agents if they're exposed. That should give us some breathing room for a few days."

"The team will be in Paris by morning."

"Emma's been added to the pre-cleared list. She won't have any trouble getting through security. Should I be worried about the change? What happened to the Fedorov girl?"

"Given Caroline's high profile, her presence might raise questions. We decided to go for a quieter way in. I'll remain in touch."

In the auto bay, Emma and Damon briefed Tyler and Kol.

"Batouala's death has to look like a heart attack in front of 500 people. Nothing can blow back on us," said Damon.

"Plus the heart attack gives us cover to search his body for the drive," Tyler added.

"Yes, Matt and I will run the op from his office."

"No one else knows about the blue files, and we have to keep it that way," said Emma.

"Why not tell them? This would be a lot easier with Ops backing us up."

"If they find out about Danforth's contingency plan…"

"They'd run. It's hard enough tracking down 30 rogue agents. Imagine looking for 300," Damon finished.

"Hey. You're quiet. You okay with this?" Emma asked Kol.

"I don't know. But if you're going, I'll be there to watch your back. I just never thought I'd be getting a kill order from you." Emma and Kol walked away to talk more in private.

"It's funny. From what Caroline said, I kind of expected this mission to involve slaughtering puppies or something," said Tyler.

"She just doesn't think we should be working for the President. Is that going to be a problem for you?" Damon asked.

"I'll tell you when we get back. Honestly, I'm not sure what's been going on with her lately. She's been a lot different since we got her back."

"Different how?"

"More driven, more forceful with her opinions, less willing to compromise or give in. She reminds me of what she was like when I first met her."

"Reminds me of Emma. Look, Caroline was stuck with Esther for three days. That's bound to put anyone on edge."

In Ric's office, Ric was in another argument with his girlfriend.

"You don't sleep. You're always working on some secret project. You barely speak to me except to bite my head off if I ask a question. Just tell me what's wrong," said Jenna.

"There's nothing to tell."

"Nothing at all? Not even why that thing is sitting on your desk?" Jenna asked, pointing to the Black Box.

"Ric, I got your…message," said Caroline, walking in.

"And what did it say? Since Ric won't talk, maybe you can? I know you're all hiding something. You and your super friends are either locked behind closed doors or pretending not to fight in the Briefing Room. Yes, we've noticed."

"Sometimes people think they want the truth and then they get it and they wish they didn't know," said Ric.

"We stayed because we were promised there would be no more lies."

"You're right. You deserve the truth," said Caroline.

"And the truth is everyone's overreacting," Ric interrupted, alarmed. "Emma's always saying how we're a family. Families usually don't get along that well." Jenna walked away, angry. "What were you going to do? Tell her everything?"

"Aren't you tired of lying?"

"I'm tired of all of it."

"Emma just keeps saying that this is her choice."

"Well, Danforth threatened to wipe out The Syndicate. It's not a choice. It's a hostage crisis. It's like Oversight and Clean Sweep all over again. That made me think. If there's one thing I've learned from Oversight, it's that everybody has a weakness. Even the guy holding the gun on you. If we could figure out a way to prove that Danforth isn't trustworthy, Matt and Emma would finally have to open their eyes."

"That's a really good idea. I just don't think that some dirty little secret from his past is gonna cut it. We need to know what he's up to now. Where he goes. Who he talks to. What he's hiding."

"You're going to tail him?"

"We're going to tail him. After we search his apartment."

"Should I bring a gun?"

"Absolutely not."

"Disguises?"

"Maybe you should just stay here."

"We don't nee disguises. Should we tell the others?"

"I think maybe we should wait until we have something a little bit more concrete. Besides, they're gonna be very busy in Paris."

A few hours later, Emma arrived at the party in Paris and handed a case of wine to a security guard as she passed through a metal detector.

"The wine is a gift for President Batouala." A man took the wine away as another man approached her.

"Miss Lewis, I am President Batouala's head of security. About your gift. My men must examine the bottle. Check it for tampering. Allow me to show you to President Batouala's table."

"Emma's in. Tyler, Kol. You set?" Damon asked from Matt's office.

"I'm in position, but why am I the guy refilling drinks?" Kol asked.

"You're an ex-cleaner. Seemed like a good fit. Tonight you can clean tables."

"All right. I'll need a different acid for the flatware," he joked.

"At least you're outside. I'm stuck out here with the world's chattiest Frenchman," said Tyler. "I think this guy bathes in garlic."

"Miss Lewis, it is a pleasure to meet you," said Pierre when Emma approached his table.

"President Batouala, it's an honor."

"I must admit. I was not familiar with your work until I received your interview request. I was most impressed with your piece on President Putin."

"Ah."

"I did not know he played piano."

"You wouldn't believe the pictures you can find online of that guy," said Matt.

"Yes, he's the most interesting man," Emma replied to the President.

"Sir, a gift from Miss Lewis."

"I thought some wine was a nice way to start our new working relationship."

"An excellent idea. I'll need a waiter for this. How did you know that wine was a passion of mine?"

"Oh, a good journalist always does her research." Kol opened the bottle, inserting some liquid in it. "We think that you have a wonderful life story to share."

"The wine is breathing," said Kol as he walked away.

"Wait for Emma to confirm he has taken the drug then move to your secondary positions," Damon ordered.

"A toast to my lovely guest, Miss Lewis. I look forward to our time together and I hope that you find me as interesting as Mr. Putin."

"Cheers. You know, I should be writing this down," Emma said, placing her glass down, not having taken a sip. "I can open my piece with your words." Pierre smiled and drank the wine. In Washington, Ric and Caroline had just entered Danforth's house, his alarm system going off.

"30 seconds to deactivate the alarm," said Caroline as Ric hooked up his phone to hack the security. "15 more seconds and we're toast."

"Danforth works at The White House. Cracking his security ain't like knocking over a lemonade stand."

"It's probably a longer prison sentence too." Ric then turned off security.

"23 character alphanumeric alarm code. This guy is hard core."

"You don't get out very much."

"That's what I keep saying."

"Two hours until he gets off work. I'm going to check upstairs." Ric hooked up his laptop to Danforth's computer. He started copying the hard drive when he noticed a picture of The President and Danforth on the desk.

"Seriously?"

In Paris, Emma was conducting her interview, buying time for the poison to take effect.

"I could not get my mind off my people. No matter where I was, my heart is always with them. And so I knew what I had to do. Take my knowledge and wisdom and share it with them."

"When's that heart attack coming?" Kol asked.

"Not soon enough. Hasn't it been 15 minutes already?" Tyler asked.

"No. Try 4 and a half," Damon replied.

"Should have shot him," Kol growled.

"Your sacrifice is truly unbelievable," said Emma.

"Sir, your other guest has arrived."

"She's early. I was not expecting her for another hour."

"She's early? President Batouala, I hope you haven't double-booked on me."

"There's another buyer?" Damon asked Matt.

"Unless he's using the Gala to speed date. It can't be the Russian. She's still at the airport, stuck in Immigration."

"Okay, Kol, can you get us eyes on the party crasher?"

"I don't know who I'm looking for. You want to give me a clue?"

"Maybe the Chinese?" Matt suggested.

"Table 46. Red dress," said Batouala's head of security.

"Pardon me, Miss Lewis. I'll only be a moment."

"I'm going to need a stronger drink," said Emma, walking away and spotting Batouala with his other guest. "Rose? It's not the Chinese. It's Rose."

"What the hell is a rogue Syndicate agent doing there?" Damon asked.

"She's pretending to be the Russian buyer." Rose took the hard drive and then shot the President. "Target is down! She's on the move!" Emma pursued her.

"Tyler, Rose will exit the south side of the building. Be there to grab her before she hits the street." Emma threw Rose across the kitchen, but the rogue elbowed Emma in the face. The two exchanged blows until Rose began throwing glasses which Emma dodged. Emma then hit her with a coffee pot just as security came in, apprehending them.

"Just like the old days, huh, Emma?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. When I was kicking your ass, that did feel familiar. Who sent you, Rose? Gotta be Esther."

"Man, she's pissed at you."

"So what, you're her little minion now? I gotta warn you. It didn't really work out for the last one."

"I'm just here doing a job. For a lot of money. A free agent." As one of the guards went to handcuff Rose, she elbowed him in the face and used his gun to shoot the other three guards. She then escaped as Emma used the other man as a body shield.

"I'm here! Where'd she go!" Kol yelled.

"I didn't see her," said Tyler, coming through another door. "Did she double back?"

"She must have had another escape plan. She knew we'd be here tonight."

"What do we do now?" Kol asked.

"We find her and that damn list." The three then returned to The Syndicate the following morning and walked into Ops. "Tell me you have a lead on that bitch."

"Which one? There's no sign of Rose or Esther. They must have been after the list," said Damon.

"Rose did say she was gonna make a lot of money if she sold the list. Nerd, find out who Batouala was talking to. The Russians can't be the only ones who contacted him. And also, figure out who the original buyer was he was meeting with." She looked to Ric's chair, but he wasn't there. "Where's Ric?"

Ric and Caroline were sitting in a car out in the woods.

"We're sure we're tracking the right cell phone?" Caroline asked.

"Still no movement."

"What is he doing out here all this time?"

"I don't know. Camping?" Caroline's phone beeped.

"Emma wants to know where we are." Ric watched her write a text message.

"Outlet shopping. Come on. Who's gonna believe that?" Ric read a text message Emma sent him. _Pay for your damned tee shirts and get back here ASAP._

"I spoofed our cell signals before we left The Syndicate. They think we're in Elizabeth."

"We should probably get back. It's gonna be all hands on deck."

"Then they have plenty of hands. They don't need ours."

"You've got to tell me what happened in South Ossetia. Ever since you came back, you've been all 'I am Caroline, hear me roar.'"

"Ric, you ever think maybe we're not changing The Syndicate? Maybe it's changing us?"

"Every day. Say what you will about Silas. At least the guy was actively evil. He made a decision to cross the line. We just keep letting ourselves get pushed over it."

"Emma thinks it's the only way to protect all of us. Just these four missions."

"It's not gonna be just four."

"Exactly. That's why we can't go back just yet. We need more on Danforth. More than just his tax returns and the contents of his sock drawer. Let's go."

"Where are you going?" They got out of the car and after walking a short distance, saw a secret bunker. "I didn't see anything on the map about a military base around here."

"This can't be a base."

"So what are they doing here? Looks like they're building something over there."

"Doesn't look guarded though. Come on." They ran over to the building.

"What is this place?"

"This is a kill house. They must be planning a mission." They opened the doors and realized the kill house was a mock-up of The Syndicate. "Oh my God."

"I don't like the looks of this." An air horn blew and they hid underneath a staircase. Successfully hiding, they watched as marines shot down dummies of Syndicate agents.

Meanwhile, Damon, Kol, Tyler, Matt, and Emma were going over their most recent intel.

"Dominkia Vitsin, the SVR agent we delayed in Paris. The real buyer. She's on her way to New York right now. Flight lands in three hours. She still wants that list," said Damon.

"Any idea where the sale's gonna be?" Kol asked.

"Well, we've been monitoring Dominika's known associates. She called one of them just before a flight."

"This guy runs a nightclub near Chinatown. He put Dominika and her friend on the VIP list tonight," said Matt.

"Ugh. I guess we're going clubbing. Except for you. Dead men can't make page six," said Emma to Tyler.

"I hate being the dead guy."

"Hey. A couple more months, the world won't even know you existed," Kol replied.

"We may not have a few more months," said Caroline, walking in with Ric.

"Where have you been?" Emma asked.

"Witnessing our impending doom," Ric answered.

"We were following Danforth."

"Are you insane? What would happen if he had seen you?" Matt asked.

"We followed him right to his secret training facility where they've been planning an attack on The Syndicate," said Caroline.

"What do you mean attack?" Damon asked.

"They built a kill house, a replica of this facility in the middle of the woods."

"All right, well we know that the President has a contingency plan, but it doesn't mean that she's gonna execute it," said Emma.

"No, no, no. We saw them. They were packing up, taking their show on the road," Ric countered.

"They must have a staging area closer to The Syndicate. They're getting ready to move against us." Matt called Danforth.

"Donovan. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to update you. We've got a solid lead on the assassin. Should be taken care of by morning."

"I appreciate the update. I'm sure the situation will resolve itself."

"I was thinking perhaps I should speak with the President. Let her know we're on top of this."

"That's not gonna happen."

"May I ask why not?"

"Donovan, there are certain conversations the President cannot have. Not if she wants to stay President."

"Plausible deniability."

"So the way I protect her is I have those conversations for her so she doesn't have to." He hung up.

"Why would the President order this? She's the one who asked us to kill Batouala," said Emma.

"I don't think she was. The President didn't hand me those files, Danforth did. Given the conversation we just had, I doubt the President has any idea. This was all him."

"He set us up," said Damon.

"Now he's gonna let us die," Ric added.

"What if we kill Danforth? He's the only one the President briefed about The Syndicate. If he's gone, that buys us some time. We can shore up our defenses, tell people to run, something," said Caroline.

"Caroline, we can't," Emma replied.

"The life of one really bad guy versus 300 people's lives. Remember?"

"It's not the same thing."

"Why not?"

"You're talking about declaring war against the United States government," said Tyler.

"I don't know if you've been paying attention, but the government's already declared war. On all of us," said Kol.

"No, they haven't. No shots have been fired. There's still time," Emma replied.

"To do what? Plead for mercy?" Caroline asked.

"To do what The Syndicate does. Control the narrative. Stay invisible. If we get Rose, we can build a cover story and tie up all those loose ends," said Damon.

"The President doesn't know what we were doing in Paris. She thinks we've gone rogue. If we can prove to her that we haven't, then maybe she'll stand down," Emma added.

"I think this is our only chance of surviving this," Matt agreed.

"You thought we were working for the President! Maybe it's time you let someone else do the thinking!" Caroline spat.

"Hey, he made a mistake," Emma defended.

"Not his first. That was lying to every single person at The Syndicate about the danger that they were in. Including us. We didn't deserve that, neither did they." She walked into Ops.

"You can all stop worrying about Rose. We have a much bigger threat to deal with. It's time you all learned the truth about The Syndicate and the men the government is sending to kill us." Emma was walking down a hallway, Damon hot on her heels.

"So you're going to walk into Ops and then what?"

"Stop her. With force if necessary. Or even unnecessary."

"Hey, hey, that's gonna make things worse. Emma, it's done. They know. But if you and Caroline start battling it out, it's gonna make everyone panic. You need to remain calm."

"Remain calm? She has them planning the assassination of one of the President's top advisors! They're gonna kill him and then they're gonna run! That is of course if Caroline's little rebellion doesn't cause a full-on mutiny first!"

"I think there's more to this than some rebellion."

"I don't. Ever since South Ossetia, she has been impossible to talk to. She blames me for the death of that girl. Because saying Caroline wasn't enough, I had to let Mikael die too."

"She's upset."

"She's punishing me!"

"Willing to destroy The Syndicate just to spite you? After everything you've done for her, she should be grateful. I'm sure Esther would agree with that sentiment."

"That is not fair."

"But it is true. That is why Esther sent Rose to Paris. This is exactly what she's wanted all along. Turn us against each other. And I know that sounded crazy in the beginning, but just stand here right now and tell me that it's not working."

Meanwhile, Jenna spoke with Ric in his office.

"How could you keep this from me?"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you."

"But you didn't. You kept lying and pretending and saying I was imagining things. What else have you been hiding?"

"How much time you got?"

"I don't know. Somebody just told me that I might be about to die."

Emma walked in to Ops then.

"Everyone. I know what you've heard. And Caroline was not lying to you. I didn't tell you about Danforth and his contingency plan because I thought that I could make him happy and keep you safe. But I was wrong. What no one has told you is that there is still a way to fix this."

"We just disagree on how to fix it," said Caroline.

"Maybe killing Danforth is the smart play. But it is going to start a war that we cannot win."

"We don't need to win. We need to survive."

"So that we can run and hide for the rest of our lives? We had that choice, remember? We stayed because we wanted more than that."

"What's our other option? Do we even have one?" asked an agent.

"We find Rose. She is the assassin that they're looking for. The President doesn't really know what happened in Paris. If we can prove to her that we're not the threat, she will call off the raid."

"You can't be sure of that," said Caroline.

"I am sure that Rose will sell that file tonight. Once that happens, we cannot control the fallout. Rose will disappear. The President will give the order and…there will be no turning back."

"There's already no turning back."

"Which is why once we get Rose, we will deal with Commander Danforth. That I promise you."

An hour later, Caroline and Emma recovered the file after killing the Russians and Rose. Danforth pouring himself a drink at his home when Emma appeared behind him, her gun cocked.

"Good evening, Commander Danforth. Sorry to bother you at home. You double-crossed us. The blue files. The secret training facility in Virginia. Have a seat. We know everything."

"And your solution is to kill me? This time next week there will be a new guy to take my place."

"No. It's not to kill you. I want you to stay exactly where you are. Right next to the President, under my thumb."

"Holding a gun on me doesn't carry the power you think it does."

"May I ask you something? You were briefed on Silas' Black Boxes, right? All the jobs The Syndicate did for the government?"

"They're all destroyed, except one. Esther has it."

"Not anymore. The Syndicate retrieved it, unlocked the box, and today we opened up a new file. Hey, Ops. I think I have his attention now." Danforth's computer beeped and showed the latest addition to the Black Box. Operation Seagull.

"I told the CIA to back off Batouala. Worry instead about extracting their agents if they're exposed. That should give us some breathing room for a few days," said a recording. Danforth sighed.

"Donovan recorded that call."

"Yeah. We don't trust the government. Weird, right? Here's the list. Last job we ever do for you."

"So what's your plan? You getting back into the mercenary business?"

"We're going to finish the job that we promised the President we'd do. We're going to find rogue agents and shut The Syndicate down. Until then you're gonna stay out of our way or every little dirty government secret will be exposed, including yours. You know, I can't tell whether you think you're a patriot or not, but I guarantee you don't want to go down as a traitor."

"You vampires should have been taken out years ago."

"Yeah, we're vampires and proud of it. We're the best trained, most highly armed, wired-in vampires in the world. Maybe you should have thought of that before you messed with us. Sweet dreams, Commander."


	39. I'm In Here

"You know, I'm not normally the jealous type but did you want to tell me who Darlene643 from Cincinnati is?" Emma asked Damon in briefing, Ric behind her.

"I can explain. You remember Heidecker, the guy with the plane full of kids?"

"Uh, yeah. How could we forget? Him and his psycho science friends?"

"The Shop," Ric growled.

"That's what they call themselves?"

"No. That's what I call them. You know like the place in the Stephen King books? They make cool stuff that kills people. Damon, please tell me you haven't been messing around with these guys."

"I've been following every lead I could find. One finally paid off."

"I really hope you're not talking about Darlene," said Emma.

"I found parking stubs in Heidecker's plane and I followed them to a building in Cincinnati. Darlene got me into the surveillance room." Emma shot him a look. "Her ID card got me into the surveillance room. This is him in Kosovo and this is him in Cincinnati. He visited the same floor twice a month for six months. Bellfar Systems."

"What does Bellfar do?"

"I don't know. I can't find anything on them."

"You could be barking up the wrong tree," said Ric.

"That's what I thought until I found military-grade encryption on their servers."

"Well, what do you want to do? Walk up to their door, knock on it, and ask them for a new hand?" Emma asked.

"More like knock it down and take what I want. Ric, if you hack their security, I could be in and out tonight." Ric looked at Emma.

"You mean we can," Emma amended.

"Okay. I'll start mission prep."

Meanwhile, a small explosion had occurred in the Server Room.

"Is Jenna okay?" Caroline asked Matt as they along with Tyler walked down a hall.

"She's fine. The explosive was just a diversion so she couldn't get a look at him."

"What was he trying to do?" Tyler asked.

"Take out a server array. Anything, Jen?" Matt asked as they walked into the server room.

"The charge was small enough that it could have sat undetected for weeks."

"Do we know what the target was at least?"

"Not yet. I need to check through the logs to see if any of them had their diagnostic LED activated."

"What's that?"

"It's a little green blinky light so anyone who's not Ric can find what they're looking for."

"Any guesses?" Tyler asked.

"This is The Syndicate's brain. You could cripple key systems, erase files."

"Then that's our priority. Find out what the target was and why," said Matt.

That night, Emma and Damon entered a building in Cincinnati.

"So this is where you met Darlene."

"This very spot. I told her she could be the one."

"On the first date? You moved too fast."

"Ah, it's probably for the best. Her favorite movie is _Mac and Me_."

"Creepy puppet _Mac and Me_?"

"Yeah."

"Makes you shudder at the thought of date night," said Ric from his office. "Also, bow down before Shadowwalker for not even The Shop is a match for his might."

"Okay, so what's your perfect date night?" Emma asked as they entered an elevator.

"Are you kidding? We're on it. Sneak and creep into a high-security building run by a shadowy organization." He kissed her cheek.

"Wow. You really know how to spoil a girl."

"Ugh, if I'd known Shmoopies was gonna be part of this op, I definitely would have said no. Thankfully, you guys are almost there," Ric groaned. The elevator then abruptly stopped and Ric lost his connection. "Maybe I spoke too soon."

"What's going on?" Emma asked.

"Hang on."

"What happened to the might of Shadowwalker? Ric?" She lost her com transmission. The elevator then dinged open. Emma and Damon drew their guns as they walked out.

"You think they knew we were coming?"

"Or no one was here to begin with," said Emma.

"Are you seeing that?" Damon asked, noticing a weird light in the dark, empty room.

"Yeah."

"Someone left the light on." They walked toward a cubicle and on a laptop, Heidecker's image appeared. "What the hell?"

"You are not speaking to a man returned from the dead. We do not possess that technology…yet."

"So who are you?"

"A familiar face. This is a digital mask as were the surveillance images that Damon found."

"You lured us here."

"To extend an olive branch."

"Not one for personal admirers. Who are you?" Emma asked.

"Who we are isn't nearly as important as what we can do. Please. Open the case. If we wanted to kill you…we would have." Damon opened the case and was shocked to see a real hand. "You are looking at a bio-prosthesis. Tissue grown from Damon's own DNA drastically reduces the risk of limb rejection."

"Nice. So what do you want?"

"Consider this a gift. A way of mending the relationship between our two organizations."

"I didn't know we had a relationship."

"We do now."

The following morning, Damon walked into Ric's office with the case housing the hand.

"Doc said it checks out. Everything Heidecker said was true."

"Any idea how they got your DNA? I've got some theories, but they all end with me never leaving this bunker," said Ric.

"Well the dead Heidecker told me that The Shop has blood work on every Syndicate agent," said Emma.

"It's catchy right. The Shop."

"Yeah, they've got our attention."

"The question is now what do we do with it? I can't walk into a local ER and have 'em pop it back on," said Damon.

"That's assuming it's not going to go all idle hands on you if they did," Ric replied.

"So The Shop's the only one that can perform the surgery? Why am I not surprised?" Emma asked.

"Ric, you think you could get them online?" Ric grimaced at the laptop. "What? Are you scared of it?"

"No. Would I rest easier if we dissolved it in acid? Sure." With his back turned, he opened the laptop and Heidecker's image appeared. "Son of a…"

"Relax, Mr. Saltzman. Our interest is in The Syndicate's skills, not its systems."

"Here we go."

"We are thinkers, not doers. When we needed something done, we asked Silas to hae The Syndicate take care of it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I killed Silas. You're gonna have to come up with another strategy," said Emma.

"Our strategy is mathematics. You do something for us, we do something for you. We need you to retrieve an item. Deliver it to us and we will perform Damon's surgery. Take some time. Review the files. I'll await your call." Ric closed the laptop.

"You two should talk. For whatever it's worth, my vote goes for Operation: Dissolve The Laptop In Acid." He walked out of his office.

"I know what you're thinking. This is a bad idea, but Emma, when I found out about this, I didn't believe it was possible, but now that it's right in front of us."

"I just thought you were getting used to the replacement. That's all."

"I'm trying to make do, but…when I realized that there was something out there that was real, then every glitch, every spike of pain made it that much worse."

"You're still in pain? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You had enough to deal with."

"What else are you keeping from me?"

"I don't know. You mean besides Darlene?"

"Don't do that. Don't give me that cute smirk. You don't get to dodge this one."

"I _hate_ not being in the field with you. Being on that mission with you last night, that was like old times. I'd like more of those."

Meanwhile, Matt walked into the Server Room where Tyler and Caroline were working.

"What do we got?" he asked.

"From what we can tell, it was a two-man op," said Tyler.

"Jenna says the door was hacked off-site. Someone else planted the charge," Caroline added.

"So she figured out what circuit board he was after?"

"The tracker array."

"The trackers? All of them?"

"What is it?"

"Jenna said it could've sat there for weeks. He was only planting the charge. It wasn't supposed to go off yet."

"What were they waiting for?" Tyler asked.

"More people to sign up. There is something much bigger going on here. Organized dissent. A mutiny. I was afraid something like this would happen when you told everybody about Danforth."

"So this is my fault?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline, you told 300 trained killers the government has a gun to their head. Not all of them want to stick around to see what happens next," Tyler replied.

"And what they don't know is if enough people join the mutiny, it won't even matter. It'll hit the tipping point," Matt added.

"Tipping point?"

"One, two people make a run, we call them rogues. Add 'em to the list. Half, even a third of our people make a break for it, that is chaos. There's only one way to cover that up."

"Send in the SEALs," said Tyler.

"Matt, when I told them about Danforth, I did not intend…"

"If we don't nip this in the bud, it could take The Syndicate down and there won't be anything we can do about it."

A few minutes later, Matt was in his office being briefed by Ric, Emma, and Damon.

"The Shop wants us to break into a lab in China and steal a biotech device," said Emma.

"It's a delivery stem for prions, protein-based infections that'll eventually allows us to cure everything from colds to cancer," Ric added.

"Doesn't sound so bad."

"Well, it's hard to say, but this thing…it actually infects you with a cure," said Emma.

"Or ebola. Or the T-virus. Who knows? In six months, we could be fighting off zombie hordes," Ric countered.

"All right, what else have we found on this Shop?"

"They're probably a think tank that develops tech for the US military," said Damon.

"Putting this tech into US hands wouldn't be the worst thing."

"Well, one thing you have to realize, Matt, is if we do this, it's a four-man op. We will need personnel," said Emma.

"Guys, nobody's going to want to hear about a side mission. Not now," Ric groaned.

"It would have to be volunteer only," said Matt.

"I've got two guys I can get onboard already. Kol might be down as well," said Damon.

"Kol's out. He's keeping tabs on Danforth just as a precaution," Matt shook his head.

"Are you actually considering this?" Ric asked, shocked.

"Nothing says we have to do what The Shop wants. We get it. We control it," said Emma.

"All right."

"Small footprint. Volunteers only. Other than that, I see no reason not to move ahead."

"I could give you a list," Ric scoffed.

Later, Emma walked into a lab in Nanjing, China.

"Welcome. It's a pleasure to have you here."

"Thank you," Emma replied, shaking the man's hand.

"I've reviewed the plans for your company's new facility here in China. I'm sure you'll be impressed at the level of security our firm can provide."

"I hope so. We're looking for the best."

"All our agents are former special forces and our protocols are custom-tailored to withstand all methods of infiltration."

"How so?"

"To begin with, we don't rely solely on technology. Cameras can be hacked so constant watch is kept on our high-value assets from this soundproof room."

"All right. We're tapped in," said Damon on Ric's com.

"Setting the cameras to loop. It's up to Emmy now."

"This better work, Ric."

"Relax. It'll work. If it doesn't, she can handle herself."

"Well, I sincerely hope your methods work," said Emma as she placed a small black device against the window.

"It'll work. The window is just another camera waiting to be looped." The black device Emma placed created a digital mask, looping previous camera footage against the glass. "Is Jason ready?"

"We're in position." An Asian Syndicate agent disguised as a security officer was buzzed in by one of the doctors and corralled the doctors into one place. The agent then opened a door for Damon to enter. "Down! Now! How'd your Mandarin hold up, Jason?"

"I told you I only needed to learn one phrase."

"None of our facilities have ever had a security breach," said the head of security to Emma.

"That's impressive. You know, it only takes one," said Emma as Damon retrieved a canister. "I guess lastly could you show me how you handle employee security?"

"All of our employees wear RFID-enabled badges. You can see them…" He turned and saw just as Ric's smokescreen re-looped. He knew it was fake. Emma punched him through the glass.

"Time to go, boys!" Emma yelled as she jumped into the lab. They ran down a hallway and escaped. Later, Ric had analyzed the contents of the canister.

"Well, it's real. It's exactly what The Shop told us it would be. That doesn't mean that it can't be twisted into something horrible and nightmare-inducing."

"What about the Chinese? Did you scrub our footprints?" Matt asked.

"I got three teams on it."

"Well done," The Shop's laptop spoke. "I understand you were successful."

"I hate when he does that," said Ric, spooked.

"You have the prion?"

"We do. When do I get my hand?" Damon asked.

"Tonight. 14th floor of the Bremmer Building, Buffalo, New York. Deliver the package, we will attach your hand on-site."

"Attach it on-site?" Ric asked when the laptop turned off. "That means there's gonna be a team of Shop surgeons waiting to do the deed right there."

"And we're going to walk into that? A manned Shop facility?" Matt asked.

"Walk in and stick around. I don't care how cutting edge they are, it's gonna take hours and I really don't want to think about what these guys can do with time on their hands."

"Nerd, can you rig an explosive to this canister? If Damon's gonna be under the knife, they're gonna be under the gun," said Emma.

Later, Emma and Damon found a sectioned off area of the Bremmer building with a chair and medical equipment at the ready.

"You've made it," said a computer screen. "Damon, have a seat. Emma, a car will meet you outside. Once you have given us the prion, we will begin the surgery.

"No. No deal till the surgery's done."

"Yeah, we have a bad history with people like you."

"Since the day you first made contact with us, we have only offered to help. Now we have given you a gift in good faith. Why not give us ours in return?" They walked behind a screen to talk in private.

"We knew it'd come to this."

"Well, that's why we have insurance."

"Emma, we're talking about surgery. This is going to take hours. At some point, we're gonna have to trust these guys."

"No, I won't do it. Not if it puts you at risk."

"It's not your decision. You can't control this anymore. Just let go. For me."

"All right, start the procedure."

"Shortly before we revive Damon, we'll signal you to deliver the prion."

"And if I don't, he dies?"

"No, we'll revive him but he will not get the necessary anti-rejection serum. He will lose the hand in a matter of days. And it will be painful."

"We'll deliver."

"Fair enough. That wasn't so difficult, was it, Emma? Place the bio-prosthesis on the table. The machine will do the rest." Emma set up the hand on the table. "Damon, remove your prosthetic, position yourself in the chair and Emma, you will have to administer the anesthetic."

"Make sure you're the first thing I see when I wake up, huh?" Damon asked. Emma smiled and injected him. A few hours later, the machine had finished lasering Damon's hand on.

"A car is on it's way. Once you've handed over the prion, we'll finish the surgery," said The Shop.

"There's one more thing you should know. I have it rigged to blow. If anything happens to Damon while I'm gone…"

"What happened to our deal?"

"We still have one. This is my insurance." Emma walked out of the building to a car, driven by a robot. "Weird." When Emma got back to the surgery room, Damon had woken up with a new hand. They both smiled.

Meanwhile at The Syndicate, Matt, Caroline, and Tyler had discovered one of the rebel agents and had placed her in interrogation.

"It's a good thing you got caught. This way I don't have to tell the President another agent went rogue."

"Awesome."

"For you. It means you can still get your pardon once we shut The Syndicate down."

"That day will never come."

"It will if people stop going rogue. Now just tell me who else is involved and trust me, we will all get to walk away from here one day. The President will honor the deal."

"It's not a deal. It's an ultimatum."

"It was, Rachel. Not anymore. You don't have to take the fall for the others," said Caroline.

"Rachel."

"The plan to get everyone out was my idea. Without me, it dies."

"I still need names," said Matt.

"I will take the fall for the others, but I won't let them do the same for me. They're dead in the water without me."

"We need to know who they are!"

"That doesn't matter! You don't have to worry about any tipping point because no one else is going rogue."

"What did you just say?"

"I said it's over."

"Tipping point. How could you know about that?"

"It's just a phrase. I don't know."

"I said that once when I was talking to…Caroline. Rachel says that she's the leader, but that isn't true. You are. She's not taking the fall for the others. She's taking the fall for you."

"Somebody has to look out for them. If they stay, you and Emma and this place, you're gonna get everyone killed."

"Caroline, you can't possibly believe that."

"I have seen it. If The Syndicate is left standing, more people are gonna die. Just like Larissa."

"Larissa?"

"And all the other girls."

"What? What other girls?"

"No. I will not let you hurt them." She drew her gun on him.

"Caroline, what are you doing?"

"Stay away from me."

"Do it," said Rachel. "He's gonna turn us both in.

"Caroline, think. It's not too late to fix this. Caroline, give me the gun." Caroline then shot him in the stomach.

"We have to get everyone out."

"Caroline! It's just us."

"You're right. It's just us. Emma does whatever she thinks is best for her. We leave them here."

"But there's nothing we can do now."

"The plan will still work."

"How?"

"You're gonna have to take the fall." Caroline handed her her gun. "Make it look like you took my gun."

"Then they'll think I shot him."

"They're not gonna kill you. They'll put you in holding. They'll interrogate you. All you have to do is hold out long enough so that I can set everyone free."

"What if he lives?"

"Rachel, we're gonna be okay. All of us. Freedom, remember?"

"It's like riding a bike."

"Exactly. Now I need you to hit me. Make it good. I'll call for help. You get upstairs and you make sure you get caught."

"See you on the other side." She hit Caroline.

When Emma and Damon returned to The Syndicate, they hurried to Matt's hospital room, having heard the latest.

"Oh my God," Emma gasped, seeing Matt on a ventilator.

"He's lost a lot of blood and in his file he has a no vampire blood combat order," said Caroline. "They're not sure when he'll wake up."

"I should've been here."

"You couldn't have known."

"What happened?" Damon asked.

"It was a breakout. Rachel's people have been rigging access terminals from the start. One of them hacked an interrogation room door, stormed in behind me. Rachel grabbed my gun, took off firing. The only reason I didn't get shot was…he took a bullet for me."

"Did Rachel say something before it happened?"

"She said…that she's had enough. Closed-door meetings, missions on the side. The Syndicate's being run by an inner circle, one that isn't concerned with anyone's future or shutting this place down." Damon looked suspicious.

"So she wants us all dead," said Emma.

"She wants everyone to be free," Caroline countered before leaving. A few hours later, Emma and Damon were still sitting beside Matt's bed.

"You know, Matt, I gotta tell you, the day that you came up with your crazy idea to keep The Syndicate open, I…I was scared. Part of me just wanted to run, just bust through the doors and fight our way out. But you saw a future. You saw something that none of us could see. I wonder…did you see this?" Emma asked, her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there. You told me once that I saved your life. Do you remember? The truth is, my friend, you saved mine. More times than I can even tell you. We can't do this without you." Damon placed his new hand on Emma's shoulder and she kissed it before crying.


	40. Up In The Air

"Look at him," said Emma as she placed a tablet on the interrogation table in front of Rachel. The tablet featured a live feed of a comatose Matt. "You say you're trying to help the people in here? That's all Matt was ever trying to do. Help you. Get you guys a new life. Look at him!" Emma slammed her hand on the table.

"Rachel, I know you're scared, but this isn't the old Syndicate. Cooperate and there's still a way out for you. Tell us who you're working with. We know you had help trying to blow the tracker array and someone tried to get you out of interrogation," said Damon.

"When you shot Matt."

"So give us a name before anyone else gets hurt."

"You got me. It's over."

"Oh, this is nowhere near over," Emma replied.

"She won't break," said Caroline from observation.

"Well, maybe it's time Emma used some enhanced measures," Tyler replied. "She did with Mikael."

"Mikael was an enemy. Rachel's one of us."

"Not anymore."

"Rachel's just the tip of the iceberg. The only reason she is in here is because a lot of other people feel the same way that she does. Even if we hunt her friends down, it will not solve the problem."

"So you're saying you agree with her?"

"I'm saying I understand her."

"This is Ops. We're getting some flash traffic that I think you need to see," said Jenna over the coms. "It's Danforth. He's dead." Everyone hurried to Briefing.

"They're saying it's a brain aneurysm," said Ric.

"It's hard to diagnose. It's easy to fake," said Damon. "Right out of the Syndicate playbook which means…"

"Esther," Emma growled.

"Esther? Why would she kill Danforth?" Caroline asked.

"Because he was shielding us from the President."

"Only after you blackmailed him," said Tyler.

"Emma played the only card we had. The point is Esther found out about this. She knows by killing Danforth it would turn the heat up on The Syndicate," Damon defended.

"Kol called it in. He's been surveilling Danforth." He put Kol on the line.

"Kol, where are you?"

"I'm on site. They're taking the body out right now."

"Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

"No. He was at the same place he has lunch at every day. Same table, same time. Just like clockwork."

"Once she knew his routine, it was easy. Esther saw the pattern and she exploited a weakness," said Emma. "We dropped the ball on surveillance."

"Surveillance. When Caroline and I broke into Danforth's house, we left some surveillance equipment there. Phone taps, keystroke loggers. The feds do a sweep, they're going to find it," said Ric.

"Yeah, but they won't be able to trace that back to The Syndicate," Caroline replied.

"If the President learns there's unidentified tech in Danforth's place, she'll know that we're behind it," said Damon.

"She'll think we watched him, then killed him."

"Kol, I need you to get to Danforth's place and clean the scene."

"You want the quick version or the full works?"

"The full works, but also quick."

"Copy that."

"The President's going to want to talk to Matt about this."

"What are we supposed to do when she calls? Say Matt lost his voice? He's on extended vacation?" Ric asked.

"No. We tell her the truth. We tell her that Matt's been in an accident but that he's expected to make a full recovery. Until then…you're in charge," said Emma to Damon.

"You think that'll be enough to keep her finger off the SEAL trigger?"

"Ops, we got a problem," said Kol.

"Kol? Kol? He's offline," said Ric.

"I'm going," said Emma.

"Take a team," Damon replied. A few minutes later, Emma arrived on the scene and woke up Kol.

"Kol? Kol? Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"You called in, said there was a problem, and then radio silence."

"Where are they?"

"Who's they?"

"I mean Danforth."

"Danforth's dead. You don't remember? It's been over an hour since you called in. Kol?"

"First special forces operational detachment delta. I remember. Everything." Later, a doctor was examining Kol.

"What's happening to him?" Emma asked.

"He's suffered a concussion and it looks like it's causing his brain to rewire sections that were previously damaged."

"And that's what's bringing his memories back?"

"Essentially. It's rare, but it's been known to happen."

"You need to relax," said Emma as Kol tried to get up.

"I'm fine."

"Were you attacked? Was somebody already there?" Damon asked.

"No. Nobody was there. It's like I had a seizure or something. I must have hit my head on the floor when I fell."

"It's a good thing we recovered you when we did. The CIA got to Danforth's place right after Emma pulled you out of there."

"They find anything?"

"No. We finished cleaning the place. Ric's hacking their system just to make sure, but I'm going to go see how he's doing. You should take it easy."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," said Kol after Damon left.

"Still hurt?" Emma asked.

"No. I had worse hangovers in the Army."

"So it really is coming back."

"In flashes, like a strobe light. I remember my unit going down. I was hit."

"And Esther? Do you remember why she tried to wipe your memories in the first place?"

"No."

"There has to be a reason your own mother would do this to you. We figure that out we can find out why she tried to grab you back in Russia." The two walked to Ric's office.

"Nerd, we need you," said Emma.

"I'm busy here."

"This is important."

"Yeah well, I'm trying to make sure that if the rabble rousers in our midst launch another attack, they don't bring down our whole network. Is it more important than that?"

"This could lead to Esther."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Check Delta operative records for my name," said Kol.

"I already did. No dice."

"Esther must have wiped your file," said Emma.

"Did a thorough job too, usually there are some digital echoes left behind, but with you…nada."

"Try Ray Kramer, Enrique Morales, and Darren Stoffer," Kol suggested.

"Who are they?"

"Members of my old unit. We were in Kosovo. The guys in my unit were smuggling Red Eye. I caught them and, uh, they shot me. I was able to take them all down. I killed them all. Esther was right. I killed all my friends."

"Bingo. Kramer, Morales, Stoffer. Army Special Ops, assigned to support NATO peacekeepers in the Balkans. All listed as killed in a helicopter crash in Kosovo in '99. Syndicate cover story much? Looks like there was one survivor. A corporal Scott Atkins."

"Scotty."

"You remember him?" Emma asked.

"He tried to help when the others turned against me."

"Honorably discharged in '05. Last known address is in Baltimore," said Ric.

"All right, looks like you're going to visit an old friend," Emma added.

Meanwhile in Ops, Caroline walked up to Damon.

"Hey, Damon, people are jittery. Worried about what Danforth's death means."

"Well, they know he was ready to kill us all."

"They also stood here and watched us as we blackmailed him. They don't know what to think. Is this good for us, is it bad?"

"Well, this couldn't have happened at a worse possible time. All right, everyone. Listen up! Stop what you're doing. First, we had nothing to do with Danforth's death. This wasn't some sort of covert kill. And second, this changes nothing. The President is aware of our situation and is committed to letting us see our mission through. So I'm here to tell you that everything is under control. We just need to focus and keep doing our jobs. As you were." A bit disappointed, Caroline talked to Ric in his office.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Tell me you haven't thought about it. Ric, you're the only person I can talk to about this."

"I know what you mean. Emma, Damon, Matt, they're too close to it. They can't see it. So you'd really leave The Syndicate?"

"Why not? Every mission leads to another. Every secret leads to ten more. Matt's in a coma and for what? Because we have an obligation to clean up somebody else's mess?"

"I haven't told anybody this, but right after you alerted the troops to the SEAL threat, I asked Jenna to leave here with me."

"What did she say?"

"She turned her back on me and walked out the door. She's right. I'd be letting Emmy down. I'd be leaving a lot of people in the lurch."

"What if you didn't have to leave them?"

"What do you mean?" Tyler walked in.

"Hey, Damon asked me to check those new security protocols. You finished?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Did I interrupt something?"

"No," Caroline replied before leaving. Meanwhile in Baltimore, Kol had led Emma into a trap. He shot his friend, Scotty, in the head and elbowed Emma in the face, knocking her out. When Emma woke, she was tied up.

"The nice thing about killing a drug dealer is they always tend to have what you need to erase the job."

"Kol, something's happened to you. Let me help."

"You already helped. You found Scotty for me."

"You said he was your friend."

"He was. Mom was wrong when she said I killed all my friends. One got away. Not anymore."

"Kol, let me go. I'll help you fix this."

"There's nothing to fix. I remember now. Everything. My unit was smuggling Red Eye, but I wasn't the whistle-blower. I was the leader. I organized the whole operation, but they tried to cut me out. Scotty's mistake was not finishing the job. You get a man down, you finish him. Else it's going to bite you in the ass. It might not happen right away. It might take ten years, but it's gonna happen eventually." He picked up the home phone.

"Operator. How may I assist you?"

"Shut up. I'm talking to the bitch who's tapping this phone. Call me back. Let's talk Emma…Mom."

"Esther."

"Once she restored my memory, she knew I'd come looking for Atkins. I half thought I'd find her in the house."

"Esther did this to you. She created some kind of delusion. I don't know, but this isn't you."

"You don't get it, do you? The Kol you used to know was the delusion. He was just a whipped, little puppy dog following you around. I mean it felt like I was medicated for the last ten years."

"Why would Esther do that?"

"You are so obsessed with my mother, aren't you? From what I remember, according to Silas, the perfect candidate for The Syndicate was a troubled, violent killer with low self-esteem. They didn't want thinkers, planners, leaders. They wanted to do all the thinking for themselves. So Mom, being Mom, took her little needles and blunted my edge. Something about judgment centers around the brain. Take a born leader and turn him into a loyal follower. A Sentinel."

"No. No. You can't tell me the man that I know…the one who saved my life…the one who loved Eliza…that that man doesn't exist."

"Eliza didn't know who I was. I didn't know who I was. If she knew, she wouldn't have been with me." The phone rang.

"It's been a long time, son," said Esther. "I have to admit I thought you might call Atkins before killing him. You're moving a bit faster than I expected."

"Had a lot of time to make up for. Meet me at Ellwood Park at midnight."

"And why would I do that?"

"Same reason you're tapping this phone. You knew I'd come with what you want. Be prepared to pay because it's going to cost you." He ended the call.

"You're not really going to go through with this. You can fight her. I can help you," said Emma.

"Oh, she'll get what's coming to her after I get mine. You're not really surprised this is who I am, are you? I mean deep inside you always knew what I was." He injected her with a sedative. "You just didn't want to believe it." A couple hours later, Kol met with Esther.

"You got the money?" he asked.

"$50,000."

"That's it? I get you, Emma, you think it's worth 50 grand? This is what's going to happen. I'm going to give you a bank account number and you're going to transfer all of your funds into it. The entire Mikaelson bankroll. You understand?"

"There is no more bankroll. That's all of it. My goal was never money." Kol grabbed her by the throat.

"Sucks to be you."

"There's another way. The Black Box. A lot of people would pay for its secrets, a lot more than $50, 000. Right now there's a small window of time where The Syndicate still thinks you're the old you. You could go back and get it." He released her. He pulled out his gun to shoot her.

"That's not a bad angle. Thanks."

"But who would you sell it to? I have all the contacts. Your only avenue to them is through me."

"I'm going to be so happy when I'm done with you," Kol sighed. "Wait for my call."

"What about Emma?" He opened the trunk of his car and handed Emma over. Kol then called Damon.

"Kol, what happened?"

"Esther was waiting for us. I tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them."

"What about Emma?"

"Esther has her."

"Is there an active threat on site?"

"No, they cleared out."

"All right, stay put. I'll bring an alpha team."

"All right."

"Damon, Esther must have a plan for her. She'll keep her alive," said Caroline.

"But for how long? I'm taking an Alpha team out there. You stay here and start the sweep. Check the satellites, the cell towers, traffic cams, all of it. Ric, give Caroline full command code clearance. You're in charge."

Meanwhile, Emma woke up, chained to a wall.

"How do you like my new lair?" Esther asked.

"It somehow suits you."

"I'd been hoping you'd come by for a visit. Kol just made that happen sooner than expected. Remember what I said?"

"You told me that the people I love would betray me, but you had to destroy Kol's mind. You had to turn him into a completely different person for him to betray me. That's not winning. That's cheating."

"I'm not talking about Kol. I was very specific, remember? What did I say about her?"

"You said that 'you made her, and like everything you love…'"

"She will turn against you which is exactly what Caroline has done with a little help from me of course. With Kol, the solution was to build a wall. A bit crude, I admit, but the memory wipe did its job. With Caroline, I needed a more elegant method."

"Caroline is still Caroline. She remembers who she is."

"That's because this time I didn't need a wall. What I needed was a bridge. Caroline is a survivor and like most survivors she carries the guilt of that. Her father died. She lived. She had escaped the world of sex slavery but left many girls behind to suffer. I needed to connect the pain of her past with her present circumstances in The Syndicate so I introduced her to someone who could link those two worlds."

"Larissa? The girl she was trying to save?"

"A hallucination. During her stay with me, Caroline thought she was in a bed when she was really in my chair. Larissa was an idea I projected into Caroline's mind. An innocent young woman who had lost everything, still working for the people who killed her family. Parallels, anyone? I stimulated the empathetic regions of her brain. Gave her a few suggestions. Her own mind filled in the rest of the story."

"She blamed me for Larissa's death."

"Transference. Caroline survived but couldn't save Larissa. That feeling of being powerless, she needed someone to blame. Who else but the most powerful figure in her life? You."

"No. Caroline has defeated your mind games before. She's a good person. She's not going to forget that."

"And I wouldn't want her to because there's no telling how far Caroline will go to save the people who depend on her. She will sacrifice everything before letting them die like Larissa. Everything. All you can do is sit there and wait for it to happen."

"You know, I hated Silas, but I got him. You were either valuable or you were dead. Simple as that. But you? You poke around in people's heads for fun. You manipulate who they become."

"I help them become what they should have been. I fix what was broken. This is important work we're doing."

"Did someone fix you or was the problem that you were too broken for them to even bother?"

"I didn't need anyone to fix me. I did that for myself."

"Well, I couldn't. I needed help. Your help and I passed on what I learned from you to Caroline."

"I thought you didn't make Caroline. You made a point of saying that."

"I didn't remake Caroline in my own image. I didn't need to do that. She already was me, lying on the floor, trying to kill herself, believing she was worthless because she had nothing to live for. I saw that and I thought…I could help her."

"Because you used to be her."

"And you used to be me." Esther looked shocked. "Transference, right? That's what this is all about. You're trying to break me the way someone broke you. Though when the people you loved betrayed you, I'm doubting there was a cranial needle involved. I have a feeling they made that move of their own free will."

Inside The Syndicate, Kol had arrived and swiped the Black Box. He headed toward the auto bay to steal a car.

"Going somewhere?" Damon asked.

"Following up on a hunch?"

"Is that why you visited Matt first? His guards have orders to report all entries."

"Ew."

"The first thing that bothered me was why would Esther take Emma and not you? Then Ric told me about your Black Box theory. Esther wanting to do a trade. Emma for the Box. And I thought that's…funny…how you never mentioned that to me."

"What can I say? Memory's not my strong suit." He threw Damon into a cabinet. Damon elbowed him in the back twice and punched him several times. However, before the fight could grow more intense, agents came in their guns cocked.

"Take him to Holding," Damon panted. "I said…"

"You're not in charge anymore."

"Excuse me?" Agents took him away.

"Whoa. I'm on your side," said Kol. "What do you think I was just doing?"

"Keep your head down until this is over."

"Until it's over? No. I'm going to get out of here right now."

"No one leaves until we've secured the facility." As they left, Kol called Esther.

"I think you should hear this," said Esther to Emma, turning her phone on speaker. "Go ahead."

"There's been a coup in The Syndicate. They've taken over Ops, instituted a lockdown. I have the Black Box, but I can't get out."

"You're resourceful. I'm sure you'll find a way. Good luck." She ended the call. "And so it begins. The objective was to use Caroline's survivor skills. That's why she's so obsessed with making sure everyone in The Syndicate gets out of there alive even if they end up killing themselves in the process. That place is going to tear itself apart."

"Don't bet on it."

"I wouldn't. If not for Matt in a coma and Damon locked in a cell. I wouldn't bet on it if you were there. But you're here."

"Oh, if you're going to keep talking, Esther, just kill me now."

"Not yet."

"Or ever. You can't kill me. You don't want to. You've had so many chances."

"As have you and you couldn't pull the trigger."

"I didn't want to kill anyone. I never did. That's what you didn't understand."

"Always so superior. I think it's time for your final lesson. In Geneva, you demanded I tell you what made me. Now you're going to find out. This is the story of Major Matthew Collins, neuropsychiatrist and his daughter circa 1987. We didn't have much but we didn't need a lot. The Army provided for most things and Daddy, well…he wasn't one for decorating. Except for those ducks. He was always obsessed with those damn ducks. It was about as ordinary as you could get. Daddy's work was brilliant. Far ahead of its time. The Army knew that post-traumatic stress was going to continue being a problem so they commissioned him to find a treatment. But he didn't want to just treat PTSD, he wanted to prevent it. He searched for a way to split the moral judgment centers in the brain so that a soldier could engage in the horrors of war and with the flip of a switch return home and be a normal citizen. The emotional scars would be locked safely away. The military refused to allow him to conduct clinical trials so he decided to do them on his own. On his own daughters. It was a sacrifice, but that's the benefit of having twins. You can use one as a control."

"Let me guess. You gave up on your sister. You chose your Daddy over her."

"Oh, no. You see I wasn't the control. I was the experiment. And when my sister came to rescue me, I killed them both. I told you I was so much worse than all you bitches put together."

"Your sister tried to help you and you killed her?"

"She tried to save herself. She couldn't bear the guilt of how she stood by, did nothing, told no one. She thought that if she saved me, it would absolve her of everything. Sound familiar? You see Caroline as living proof that you can be redeemed, but the truth is you can't. You can't really save people."

"You slaughtered your family. Your lesson means nothing."

"For now. But soon you will know the truth of it." Kol then walked in after having escaped The Syndicate with Damon.

"I thought I'd never make it out of that freaking hellhole. We have a deal. Time to hold up your end," said Kol.

"Fine, just let me finish and you'll get what you want."

"You know what? I've waited long enough. We leave now or I'm putting a bullet in your head."

"If you shoot me, neither one of us get what we want. Just let me finish with Emma and then we'll go."

"I can't let you do that," said Damon, walking in with his gun cocked.

"Don't tell me you've gone soft," said Esther.

"Don't blame him. I put a tracker on that box right after we got it from Mikael. Now put the box down and back away from Emma."

"And here I thought you trusted me." Damon ducked as he fired. Esther and Kol then went out the back.

"Emma."

"You have to get Esther."

"She's gone."

"What about the Black Box? Can we track it?"

"Esther is gonna have to wait."

"Syndicate?"

"We need to get back." A few minutes later, Emma and Damon walked into The Syndicate to see six body bags and a wall riddled with bullets. The place looked like a war zone.

"What happened?" Emma asked Jenna.

"Is there anyone left?" Damon asked.

"A dozen or so. You guys need to get to Ops." They walked in and were heartbroken. Tyler was dead.

"This was Rachel's doing?" Damon asked.

"Yeah. He bled out internally," said Ric.

"Where's Caroline?" Emma asked.

"She said she was gonna stay, that she was waiting for you. When we found Tyler here, she was gone. Kept saying she was trying to save everyone. I guess in the end she couldn't save him."

"Not everyone can be saved," Emma sighed, finally understanding Esther's lesson.


	41. You Stupid Girl

Two hours passed since Matt had woken up. Ric, Emma, and Damon walked him into the still trashed Operations Room.

"I don't even know what questions to ask right now," said Matt.

"Core systems are intact. Power, ventilation, security. The trunk line was cut. Someone's fixing that now. Communication should be restored in a few hours," said Damon.

"Jenna wrangled a couple people to help her restore the internal servers. Shadownet's toast. I can rebuild it, but we're talking weeks, maybe months," Ric added.

"How many stayed?"

"14. Along with eight dead, including Tyler," said Damon.

"So…14."

"Kol has the Black Box. Him and Esther talked about selling it, but that's all we know right now," said Emma.

"Kol?"

"He isn't Kol anymore."

"Yeah, Esther brought back his repressed memories and now he's a total psycho," Ric added. "You missed a lot."

"What about Caroline? Is she in Holding?"

"More like hiding. She left with the others. After we found Tyler."

"She shoot him too?"

"Matt…what Caroline did…all of this is because of a seed that Esther planted. She sold her on the danger everyone was in. So Caroline felt she needed to save everyone…no matter the consequence," said Emma.

"She seemed better after everyone left, like Esther's conditioning had run its course," said Ric.

"Tyler's death wasn't a part of the plan and when she found out what she was responsible for, it broke her," Damon sighed.

"I have to find her," said Emma.

"What happens when you do? You can't know exactly what Esther did to her," said Matt.

"I have to try. You all stay here. Try to get a line on Esther and Kol, the Black Box and I'll be back with Caroline as soon as I can."

"How do you know where to find her?"

"Same place I found her years ago."

"A lot has changed since then. When I confronted Caroline, she shot me."

"You didn't know about Esther's head trip. I do. I'm ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To have a long overdue conversation."

That night, Emma was walking the streets of New York when she heard panicked screaming. She ran into a building and saw a man shot.

"Hey! What happened here?"

"We never had a chance," said the man. "She was all shaky, stumbling. I thought she was afraid, but she wasn't. Bitch played us. I said she could have whatever she wanted, all the drugs I got, the money too if she wanted it. She said no."

"She didn't take the drugs?"

"She took my phone. Made me give her a list of our other places. I guess she's looking for a bigger score."

"What other places did she ask about?"

"Stash houses, count rooms, even HQ. The bitch walks in there it's a suicide mission."

"What did you say? Suicide mission. Oh god."

_Several Years Ago_

Emma walked into the training room at The Syndicate, her eyes stone cold. She approached Damon and Ric.

"Put me back on the Barcelona op," Emma demanded.

"You mean your suicide mission?" Damon asked.

"I need to go have no part of this conversation," said Ric before leaving.

"Silas assigned me to that op."

"And I told him you should be benched. You suffered a loss," said Damon, having read the report that Tatia had been…terminated.

"I suffered a loss?" Emma asked, pissed. "Tatia wasn't hit by a bus."

"Look, I know what you're trying to do. You blame yourself for her death. You think you should have been the one to die. Believe me I get it. But killing yourself will not bring Tatia back. It just makes you both dead."

"What if that's what I want?"

"Well, I don't! Emma, you are not alone. You have people who care about you. I don't want to lose you. You can't see that right now, but you do have something to live for." She punched him.

"Not anymore I don't."

_Present Day_

"If the Black Box is sold, everyone is exposed. The entire Syndicate roster. We won't be safe anywhere. We can not let it get out there," said Damon in The Syndicate.

"We can't track Kol and Esther without Shadownet. Though if we could figure out who they'd approach with the box, we might be able to stop the sale."

"We don't have the personnel for that kind of operation. The list of potential buyers is endless."

"Russia, China, Iran. They'd love to have that kind of information."

"Money's no object for North Korea. They can print whatever they need to buy the box." Matt's phone rang.

"It's the White House. What do they know?"

"Nothing. No one's called since you've been shot."

"This is Donovan."

"Donovan, it's President Spencer."

"Madame President, this is a surprise. I hope all is well."

"I wanted to update you on Commander Danforth. I've been briefed on the results of his autopsy."

"Danforth's autopsy?"

"You missed a lot," Damon sighed.

"I've been assured that he died of natural causes."

"Well, I guess that's good news. At least we know there was no foul play involved."

"Actually, Esther did it," Damon whispered.

"I'm vetting candidates to replace Evan now. You'll hear from someone next week, but be prepared to discuss The Syndicate's agenda going forward."

"Of course. I'll do my best."

"I have every confidence in you, Donovan. Before Evan died, he told me what a great job you all are doing. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"What'd she want to talk about?" Damon asked.

"The Syndicate's future. Was there ever a contingency plan made for closing this facility? A way to shut the place down?"

"Well, we used to have a tank of vervain gas hooked into the ventilation system, but we had it removed. Why?"

"We've got 308 rogue agents. All it takes is one of them doing something that gets on the radar and the rest of us left here are screwed. We have no way to cover it up because we're crippled."

"You want to give up."

"We've got a week. Do you see an alternative?"

"We use that week to find the box. To repair our systems. To get The Syndicate back up and running."

"Up and crawling is more like it. Look it's only a matter of time. As soon as the President gives the order, Navy SEALs will come in here and they will mow us down. It's not gonna take them long. We're down to a handful of techs and a few medics. We're like fish in a barrel."

"The Navy SEALs come and we're not here, then they know we ran and they will hunt us down."

"What if the government couldn't be sure what happened? If there was no evidence of The Syndicate for them to find? They wouldn't know who got out and who didn't."

"And how would we do that?"

"We destroy the facility. Permanently. Today. We blow it all to hell." Damon and Matt told Ric and Jenna of their plan.

"I know the medic said she didn't find any signs of brain damage, but perhaps she spoke too soon," Jenna whispered to Ric.

"My brain is fine. So is my hearing," Matt replied.

"Look, you just came out of a coma and now you want to blow up The Syndicate. Maybe a CAT scan's not such a bad idea," said Ric.

"We've gone through a lot in the last 24 hours. We shouldn't make any rash decisions," Damon added.

"I'm not. This is the logical thing to do."

"By what measure? Your entire argument is based on a false assumption. The people that left aren't like the rogues we've chased. They're gonna want to stay out of trouble, not paint targets on their backs," said Jenna.

"They didn't seem to mind a little trouble when they were pulling guns on each other in Operations yesterday," Ric argued.

"We haven't even discussed the Dirty 30. Last time I checked, there's at least 20 unaccounted for," said Damon.

"And when they find out what's happened here, they're gonna see it as a window of opportunity. There's no telling what they might do and we can't chase them," said Matt.

"We can rebuild Shadownet," said Jenna.

"Rebuild a decade's worth of hacks in a couple days? I'm flattered, but I ain't that good."

"So you agree with his plan?" Damon asked Ric.

"I think Matt's got the right idea. I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. It's doable. Blow away the support columns in the subbasement levels and the whole structure will collapse. All it would take is three or four well-placed RDX charges."

"And that'll make this facility completely inaccessible from the surface?"

"Yeah. Only way to get in after that is to dig and that would mean heavy equipment which would lead to a lot of questions from the locals."

"What about the questions the President will ask when she finds out The Syndicate blew itself up?" Jenna asked.

"It'll look like an accident. An explosion caused by some leftover armament from when this was a missile site," said Matt.

"The only way a cover story works is if there's someone left to tell it," said Damon. "And since we're supposed to be running, then we don't have that. So why don't we just stop wasting our time and get back to our job?"

"We're no longer capable of doing our job!"

"Where are we going to go! If what's on this box goes public, we're not ghosts anymore. We are fugitives in 26 countries including this one. I killed the President of Belarus and replaced him with a double. Emma, she helped assassinate a North Korean cabinet member in front of the UN Assembly! I am trying to save myself here and all of you too." Emma then called Damon. "Emma."

"Damon, I need help. Caroline hit the Southsiders in Camden. Drug dealers, human traffickers. She's trying to take out the gang members and free the girls."

"Traffickers? Is she nuts! Why the hell is she going after them?"

"I don't know. Maybe Esther's programming isn't done. Maybe it's been amped up by Tyler's death. She's gonna get herself killed. I don't think I can get her out of here alone."

"Okay, okay, I'll come to you. Where are you?"

"Abandoned warehouse in Whitman Park."

"Got it. On my way. Emma needs backup. Don't blow up anything until I get back here or I'll hunt you down myself."

Emma walked into a room in the warehouse and found Caroline. They both pointed their guns at each other.

"Emma. You can't stop me from saving them."

"Not why I'm here. Why are you here?"

"I can save them. I have a plan. You need to go."

"I'm not letting you die here alone."

"I'm not the one who dies. Everyone around me does. Everyone but me. Rachel shot at me. She tried to kill me and instead Tyler died. Just like Papa and Larissa and the girls in the brothel."

"Caroline, Larissa wasn't real."

"Why would you even say that? Larissa was real. She was. She helped me. She was a good person."

"Esther created a hallucination that reminded you of the things that you lost. Every single thing that's happened since then was born out of that life. Larissa didn't die because she never existed."

"The girls. Did you see them? Are they…"

"They're real. We can get them out of here. There's an escape route through the basement, but we have to hurry. That guard's gonna wake up soon." Quickly, guards entered and as Emma and Caroline took them out the girls escaped. However, Emma and Caroline were trapped when reinforcements arrived. The girls the gang had captured though fought back. Using the distraction, Emma shot the remaining members. One member survived Emma's shot and as he was about to fire a gun, Damon ran into him with his car.

"We should get back," said Emma.

"I don't know if I can."

"You can. We'll do it together."

"We have to hurry. While there's still a Syndicate to get back to. Let's go," said Damon. A few minutes later, they walked into The Syndicate.

"You let them all go! I told you to wait!" Damon yelled after hearing Matt had released the rest of the staff.

"Technically you just said not to blow up anything while you were gone," said Ric.

"Last I checked, you were second-in-command," Matt added. "Unless you want to put me back into a coma." Matt then saw Caroline. He was less than pleased.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what she did to me. But what I did to all of you…Matt…"

"This isn't a good idea. We don't know what Esther did to her."

"Did you tell Chris to kill me?" Ric asked Caroline.

"I didn't tell anyone to kill you. I even sent Kol to protect you."

"I guess it's the thought that counts. How's the head?"

"Better. I think."

"Look, everyone's been released. Ric has placed the explosives. The only thing left to do is head topside and go our separate ways," said Matt.

"I'm not leaving," Emma interrupted. "Not while the Black Box is still out there. That's on me. I used it to keep this place running and now Esther has it."

"I'm not sure if you noticed this, but Esther kind of decimated this place," said Ric.

"And we just let what was left of our personnel walk out the door. How are we going to find her, much less stop her?" Jenna asked.

"I don't know, but we've done it before."

"When we took down Silas, it was just the six of us in a safe house against all of The Syndicate and all of its resources," Damon added.

"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but I just watched a bunch of girls fight heavily-armed men and win. They fought because…"

"It was the right thing to do," Caroline finished.

"Look, Esther waged this war and I've been so focused on figuring her out that I forgot what was important."

"We couldn't beat her before. How are we gonna do it now?"

"We stop playing her game. She wanted us to be strong. We are. Strong enough to fight her. I don't know if we'll win, but I am ready to fight."


	42. Apparat

"Nothing. No whiff of Esther anywhere," said Ric.

"I'm having no luck either," Jenna added.

"This is pointless. Without Shadownet, we couldn't find Waldo, much less Esther and Kol."

"Well, they can't just sell the Black Box to anybody," said Emma.

"No, but it's not like they're gonna advertise online. It'll be a direct transaction, protected point of sale. I've got a few theories on possible venues, but they're all over the world," said Matt.

"And we have no way on checking on them without any field agents," Damon added.

"Look, we can talk a good game, but we have to face the facts. The Syndicate is only us now. We're literally the only ones left. And we've been taking a pretty bad beating."

"It was just us before and we took down Silas and all of The Syndicate from a safe house," said Emma.

"Yeah, but at least we knew where Silas was. We had a bull's-eye we could aim at. We're flying blind now," Ric countered.

"And every hour that goes by brings us that much closer to the sale of the Black Box," said Matt.

"It might be time to think about our options," Damon sighed.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Emma, we don't have the tools to fix this. And we need to take action before the President figures out what has happened here and sends a Navy SEAL team to clean up. I hate to say this, but…I think we should run."

"Speak for yourself, King," said Marcel, entering the room.

"Marcel!" Emma smiled. "What are you doing here?" They hugged.

"I asked myself the same thing. I see why all my calls go straight to voicemail."

"Everything's down as you can see," said Jenna.

"Didn't you get the packet we sent? New identity, background files, the whole 'get out of The Syndicate free' card?" Ric asked.

"I did and as tempted as I was to pawn my ceremonial gold watch and head to Cancun, I got wind of some chatter you need to know. So I came in. Seemed like the right thing to do."

"Right thing my ass. You're on the box too."

"What kind of chatter?" Matt asked.

"A high-level auction's about to go down. Invite only. Very hush-hush. The prize? America's dirtiest secrets, all in one handy package."

"The Black Box," Damon sighed.

"Here's the thing. Whoever's making this sale knows exactly what they're doing."

"When and where is this auction?" Matt asked.

"Toronto. At the G-20 Summit this week."

"God at G-20. Of course. "

"Leaders of the world's 20 largest economies gathered together in one spot, along with all their respective intelligence and security chiefs."

"People who'd be most interested in the Black Box."

"It's the perfect opportunity. And cover," said Emma.

"How could I not see this?" Matt asked.

"Well, you did just wake up from a coma," Ric replied.

"Five countries have been invited to bid, but only two, China and Russia, are the real players. Germany, Turkey, and Brazil are also on that short list, but they're really just seat-fillers. They have dough, but their black ops budgets are only half the size of the other superpowers," Marcel further explained.

"Security at the G-20 is gonna be tight. But if we can silent partner with one of the smaller countries, that could get us access," said Matt.

"All we need to do is get close enough to grab Kol," said Damon.

"Marcel, can you get us in with one of the bidders?" Emma asked.

"The only in with these intelligence types is money, cash to help them win the auction."

"The Syndicate has no operational funds left," said Jenna.

"Well, then The Syndicate has a problem. What are you gonna use for the buy-in?"

"We can use my money. From the Fedorov Trust," said Caroline, walking in.

"Are you sure?" Ric asked.

"If it's gonna help us get the Black Box, then yes. I owe it to you, to all of you."

Later, Emma and Damon were loading up their bags.

"It's like karma. We save Marcel's life, he saves ours. And maybe Kol in the process," said Emma.

"Em, let's get something clear. Kol is our enemy now."

"I know he hasn't been himself."

"That's the thing. Kol is who he really is and if it comes to it, Kol is the man who's gonna go down."

"Damon, people can change. Look at Marcel. Look at me. If all anyone ever saw were the things I did for The Syndicate, hell the things I did before that, they'd think I was a monster. If we can't believe that people change, then everything we're fighting for is meaningless."

A few hours later, Emma, Caroline, and Damon were at the G-20 site.

"Ops, we're on site. You sure we're gonna find him here?" Emma asked.

"Sorry, Emmy. I can't confirm. We have no eyes here. I'm not sure if our target, eh…"

"Erhan Guler, Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs," Marcel supplied for Ric.

"I'm not sure if Guler's even on site."

"He'll be the youngest intelligence wonk at the bar. Western educated. Loves a good martini," said Marcel.

"Got him. Standard three-man security escort," said Damon.

"Caroline, you're up," Emma signaled.

"On my way."

"Well, that's my cue. You can take it from here. If you ever find yourselves in the Yucatan, give me a shout. Mojitos on me," said Marcel.

"Everybody down! Get down!" soldiers yelled, entering The Syndicate. Emma, Damon, and Caroline heard the commotion over the coms, thanks to Ric's quick thinking and typing.

"Matt, what's going on?" Emma asked.

"The SEALs are here. We're the only ones here. Rest of the personnel evacuated two days ago."

"Oh, we know. We re-tasked the satellite. This facility has been on watch ever since Danforth died. You thought you could cut and run right under the nose of the President?"

"We're toast," said Ric.

"I knew coming back here would bite me in the ass," Marcel grumbled.

"Commander, I know how upset the President must be with me. But we are in the…"

"Take 'em topside."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Emma's voice came over the intercom. "Unless you want to be the one man to betray your country."

"Is that a threat? Identify yourself."

"I'm the point man on the op you're interrupting right now. What Matt is trying to tell you is that we're after something called the Black Box."

"Black Box?"

"You haven't been briefed on everything, have you, soldier? Pick up the phone. Call the President. Tell her that Esther's going to sell the Black Box at the G-20. She what she says."

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

"Call her. If she says no, we'll abort and turn ourselves in."

"Okay, Caroline. We can't wait for that call. To get the box, we need access to the auction now," Damon ordered.

"Copy." While the SEALs called the President, Caroline's mission succeeded. They were in on the auction. Later, the President met Emma in the lobby.

"Susan? It's fine. She's a former student of mine," President Spencer told her guards. "Give us a minute please. How are you?"

"I'm wonderful. How are you?"

"Good."

"Thank you for seeing me."

"Vazquez updated me. What the hell is going on?"

"The box is set to be auctioned to a rival nation. If you get me into the reception tonight, I'll recover it for you. Then our mission will be done and you'll never have to hear the words The Syndicate ever again."

"And what about the other agents who fled?"

"It's in their interest to keep a low profile, especially after their identities are erased off the box. So do we have a deal?"

"Do you understand that if you fail, your friends back at the bunker will pay the price?" Emma nodded. "Steve, can you get my friend a guest pass for the reception tonight? Susan, it was lovely to see you again."

"And you."

That night, Emma and Caroline attend the G-20 reception.

"Ops, we're in," said Emma.

"Good. Damon, you in position?" Matt asked.

"Set."

"Emma, you're our eyes in there. What do you see?"

"Caroline is at the bar with Turkey. Marcel, you said Russia's portly, and China's tall, is that right?"

"No, Russia's tall and yes, the Chinese MSS leader could stand to lay off the lo mein."

"I've got Russia and China. Germany too."

"Do you see Kol?" Matt asked.

"No. Kol is not on site yet."

"The bidding has started. He must be here," said Caroline.

"Damon, I'm going to make myself visible, try and flush Kol to you." Emma slowly walked up a set of stairs and Kol noticed her. "He made me. He's on his way to you."

"Hey, Kol," said Damon when Kol walked into the service entrance.

"Auction's over," Emma added, appearing behind him.

"So you figured out the G-20, huh?"

"You know what happens if that box gets out."

"I don't care."

"You used to. Your life's mission was to protect the box," said Damon.

"It wasn't my life."

"Where is it?"

"Look…" Damon grabbed him from behind and searched him, but it wasn't on him. Kol elbowed Damon in the face just as Brazilian men came in to capture Emma. Emma and Damon took out the men, but Kol escaped.

"Damn that little worm," Damon growled, massaging his nose.

"We're back at square one."

"Not completely. Key card I swiped."

"Room at the Dorsett Glenn hotel. Ric, can you scan this and give me the room number?" Emma asked as she slid the card through her phone and sent Ric the data. "Caroline, keep an eye on Kol."

"I've got that room number for you."

"Good. And please tell me it's not the penthouse."

"Room 616."

"We're on our way." When Emma and Damon reached the sixth floor, they saw Esther leaving with some men in the elevator. They shot at them and Toronto security heard the noise. "Give me the room card!" They ran into the room. "Who were those guys?" Systematically, security began sweeping the rooms. They then breached room 616.

"Police! Anyone in here?" They heard a shower running. "Hello?" One of the men opened the door and Emma screamed behind the shower curtain.

"What the hell is this!" Damon yelled, appearing behind her. "Did my wife send you?"

"You're married!" Emma screeched.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. There's been an incident. Carry on." When they got dressed, Emma called Matt.

"We've lost Esther."

"What? How?"

"She was taken from Kol's room by an unknown party."

"Against her will?"

"Looked more like a rescue than a kidnapping."

"Can you follow?"

"The hall's swarming with cops. Gotta wait till it's clear," said Damon.

"We need to move now. I can't keep the SEALs at bay much longer."

"Nerd, we need eyes on Esther to track her. Traffic cams, satellite images, something."

"I'm working on it."

"Well, work faster."

"I got facial recog online."

"Search for Esther through Toronto traffic cams," said Matt. "Care, you got eyes on the Black Box yet?"

"They're heading toward a black SUV. I have eyes on the Black Box. And the leader just killed his own men. He's on the move. I'm in pursuit." Caroline lost the man however.

"Wait the lead German did what?" Damon asked, hearing the news.

"He shot his own guys. It makes no sense," said Emma.

"Karl Jaeger is career BND."

"Maybe someone made him a better offer."

"Like who?"

"Like the people who rescued Esther. Two things happening at the exact same time that we can't explain."

"I'm not sure I see the connection."

"Yeah. Me neither, but I think I know someone who might. You still have that bidding phone?" Emma called Kol.

"I'd say _boa noite_, but I'm guessing this ain't Santos."

"Hello, Kol," said Emma.

"What can I do for you, Emma? You want a loan? Couple million dollars? Hell, 20."

"No. Just an answer. You weren't surprised when the Germans won your auction?"

"Little bit. I didn't think they'd have that kind of money."

"What if Esther helped them get it?"

"No way. She never left the room."

"But she told you who to approach for the auction, right? Pointed you towards Jaeger, told you what to say to him?"

"The only thing she suggested for that guy is I convince him with some quote. Best weapon against an enemy is another enemy or something like that."

"That was a message. She played you. She's been playing you this whole time."

"I was gonna kill her."

"But you didn't, did you? And now she's on her way to the port to collect a prize you won for her. Congratulations, Kol." Emma and Damon arrived at the port shortly. All they found were the destroyed contents of a Black Box and a car driving away. Kol's car.

"Maybe we haven't lost him yet," Damon smirked. They sent an image of the Black Box to the President and she called off the SEALs. After the military left and the rest of the team returned, Ric popped a bottle of champagne.

"Ric, it's really great, but I think it might be a little premature," said Emma. "She's still out there."

"And she isn't alone. She has help," Damon added.

"All right. Shush, shush. Yes, I know it's not over and I know there are plenty more bad guys out there but right now, we are celebrating something long overdue. The Syndicate is dead, baby."

"Amen to that," Jenna replied.

"Hey, Marcel. Thanks for everything," said Matt.

"By the way, I had my guy in Toronto harbor look up Esther's chopper. It's registered to a Bellfar Systems. Does that mean anything to you?" Ric dropped his drink.

"Bellfar Systems was the same front company The Shop used in Cincinnati," said Damon.

"Esther's working with The Shop?" Caroline asked.

"What's The Shop?" Marcel asked.

"It's Silas with pocket protectors. It's bad. It's very bad," said Damon.

"If Esther's aligned herself with them, she'll be capable of anything," said Matt.

"She already is. So what does she need them for?" Emma asked.

"Maybe they need her."

"Somehow that seems so much worse."


	43. The Devil Within

In a parking lot in a dark area of town, Emma entered a car. She turned the car on and a man's image was projected on the GPS screen.

"Emma," he said.

"Hi, Henry. Long time, no…whatever you wanna call this."

"I used to call it a secure way to meet."

"Are we feeling insecure?"

"Ever since you asked me to look into the identity of this man." He showed her a surveillance image of Esther's driver from Toronto.

"Paid you to look into him."

"Paid me. Yes. I need to ask. Why are you so desperate to find him?"

"I'm after the woman next to him, but I already know about her."

"Well, then maybe you should ask her because I can't find anything."

"Henry, you can find anybody. You're telling me you can't find one hit man who wears hunting glasses?"

"I'm sorry, Emma."

"Sorry's not good enough."

"No. I'm sorry." Henry was then shot by the hit man Emma had commissioned Henry to find.

"Some advice. Don't ask questions you may not like the answers to." He locked the car doors, started the engine, and pressed down the gas pedal remotely. "By the way, the name's Smith and they're shooting glasses." As the car headed to run into a wall, Emma pushed the door open using her vampire strength and jumped out just before the car crashed. Later, Emma returned to The Syndicate.

"You could have been killed," said Damon.

"They were just trying to scare me."

"You don't have to find out what Esther wants."

"I have to stop her."

"No, you don't. Look, Matt is in DC right now. He is making the President sign our pardons as we speak. We are done. We can go."

"With Esther still out there?"

"Yes."

"Damon…she's working with The Shop."

"Let her. Maybe this didn't go down the way we wanted, but we did what we said we were gonna do. We gave everyone in here a shot at a new life."

"Except for us. She will come after me. She'll come after us. And she'll keep coming unless I stop her."

"Before we came back here, you said there was always going to be another mission. What you meant is that we can't let that get into the way of what we really want in life. But I'm starting to think the next mission…any next mission…is all you really want."

"No. That's not…this…"

"Don't say that this is the last one."

"All set," said Ric, walking in.

"Set for what?" Damon asked.

"Taking the car apart to see if we can't find a lead on The Shop. Didn't she tell you? I found a chip in the car and if I'm right it'll give us access to The Shop's satellite network. Okay. Comsat Relay 16309."

"Why are we whispering?" Damon asked Ric.

"Because if I make a wrong move inside these nodes, they'll know I be creepin' while they be sleepin'. Whoa. This thing's a Black Bird."

"Singing in the dead of night?" Emma asked.

"No as in not registered. Technically, it doesn't even exist. These guys bought their own private satellite network whose guts we are currently all up in."

"What can you tap into?"

"Well, this baby's a com relay, live traffic, Shop service talking to each other. There's some phone calls. Three at the moment. Uh, two just dropped out actually."

"Listen in."

"It took me a while, but I just got here. And you're where?"

"That's Smith," said Emma.

"I'll be at the Cobalt Facility for another hour. What's the status there?"

"The status? The status is I'm on scene and the car's gone. So is she."

"Forget about Emma. You need to get to New York."

"Everything's set. I'm heading there now."

"And the Hasan woman?"

"She arrives tomorrow."

"Good. Then don't let her get away too."

"He said he was seeing the Hasan woman. Who could that be?" Damon asked.

"Maryam Hasan. She's a Sudanese-born human rights activist and she'll be arriving in New York this week as part of a goodwill visit," Jenna answered.

"Didn't she just win the Nobel?" Emma asked.

"Last year. She was recognized for her fight against human trafficking and modern slavery. Why would The Shop care about that?"

"Heidecker said the shop tested on human subjects. Preferably on ones that no one would miss," said Damon.

"So she's messing with their supply lines," Ric sighed.

"They're sending Smith to kill her. I'm going to stop him," said Emma.

"We can warn the authorities," Damon suggested.

"They won't know who to look for and they won't stand a chance. Jenna, can you get me the address?"

"All right, I'm just going to say it. I thought we were done. No more missions," said Ric.

"This is the last one."

The following morning, Emma was standing near a group of reporters who were interviewing Ms. Hasan.

"In position. Got eyes on Hasan. No sign of Smith, but that doesn't mean she's safe."

"Copy that. Caroline is arriving right now." A limo pulled up and Damon opened the door. "Thank you for this."

"I knew Esther would pop up. I just didn't know when."

"No, thank you for the big donation to Hasan's charity. It'll get you in close."

"Yeah, well, what else was I gonna use the money for?"

"Emma and I have the perimeter. Hasan's people told me, your head of security, that they wanna say hi to you, like right away so you need to get in pocket and stay there. And look out for some overdressed hit man wearing yellow shooting glasses."

"I've got Smith. Flower vendor." Smith stabbed Hasan as Caroline was talking to her. In the chaos, Emma went after him. Smith snuck up behind her in an alley and punched her, but she kicked him in the face. She then took his knife and stabbed him in the stomach. "Not so tough without your car, are you? Smith's down. NYPD's on the way. Get scarce." Before Emma left, she grabbed Smith's cell phone and texted a restricted number. _Hasan wounded. Emma on site. Laying low._

A message then came in. _Use caution. You don't know her like I do._

"Esther."

"The text came from Cobalt River, Northern Michigan. Cobalt's the name we heard on the intercept," said Ric when Damon, Emma, and Caroline returned to The Syndicate.

"So what about it?"

"There's definitely something there. Doesn't show up on Google Earth or even Shadownet, but if we gaze through the eyes of the Black Bird. Area 50 ¾."

"That's it. That's where Esther is. I'm going."

"No, you're not. We stopped the assassination. Maryam Hasan is still alive. I thought this was the last one," said Damon.

"It is, but it's not over yet. Esther texted Smith from this place. When I get her, then it's over."

"She's done something to you. You were out for a long time when Kol grabbed you. You said she could have."

"I said she may have. That's why I need you to come with me. In case I stop being myself."

"Ric," said Damon when Emma left.

"Don't even need to ask. You won't be the only one looking out for her."

"Thanks." Jenna walked in later.

"25% on the satellites? I can't hold the hack with that."

"It's the best we could do with secondary service."

"Not good enough. Damon and Emma are about to break into a Shop facility uninvited. The last time we tried to do that…"

"Okay, I will go down and reconfigure."

"Stop. Don't do that. I can…I can make it work."

"Ric, I understand your concern. Believe me, I do."

"That's not it. If we really are done with this place and looks like we might be, where do we go after this?"

"Where?"

"What I'm trying to say is…it is we, right?"

"Ric."

"I just need to know."

"Of course." She kissed him right before his computer beeped. "They've reached the perimeter."

"Yeah."

"I haven't seen one control," said Damon.

"That's what scares me," said Ric. "Let's have a look through The Shop's eye in the sky. Whoa, stop. Everybody stop."

"I don't see anything."

"Pressure sensors all over."

"What do they trigger?" Emma asked.

"Let's not find out. Ric, guide us in."

"Follow my lead."

"Oh, that not terrifying," Emma muttered.

"Just follow the fence on the left. The system's fighting me."

"I've tapped into the security network," said Jenna

"You got it?"

"Got it." The back door to the complex opened.

"All right, guys, it looks like they have some automated countermeasures here so watch your six. And your seven, eight, and nine."

"They kept people here." Emma spotted a man running an experiment. The doctor noticed her and activated an automatic turret.

"Ric, I thought you said you had their security," said Damon.

"Which nodes are those cannons on?"

"C-17, but they're re-routing," said Jenna.

"Just give me a second." The cannon then stopped. They entered the lab and the doctor operated a button which caused his test subject to begin bleeding from the nose and mouth. "Guys, you've got to get gone! Now!" Quickly, they escaped with the doctor, but not before Damon got hit in the back. When they returned to The Syndicate, Jenna removed the bullet in Medical.

"There."

"Can you hurry up?"

"You field agents and your drama. Now I know where Ric gets it from."

"Dr. Loren Tolcher. You've been a busy bee. That man you killed back at the lab, how'd he end up there? My guess is that you bought him. Is that why your people tried to kill Maryam Hasan? She put a dent in your little guinea pig supply. It makes her a priority target, doesn't it?"

"I don't have a target. I'm just a biologist."

"What does Esther want with your work?"

"I don't know who that is."

"What about your experiments?" Damon asked, walking in. "Our guy says you're using some kind of micro particle in this fluid." He removed a syringe from the cases he stole.

"Nano-particle. Don't pretend to understand my work. I miss this place, by the way. The Syndicate was one of our best proving grounds. Such a waste."

"You don't have enough test subjects for your little virus?" Emma asked.

"Virus? You need to crawl out of the 20th century. You should be careful with that. There's only one antidote, and it's the blue one."

"I think I get it." Emma took the red syringe and injected him with the toxin.

"Are you insane!"

"Depends on who you ask."

"You need to administer the antidote now."

"Not until you tell me what Esther's doing at Cobalt River."

"She came by earlier today to inspect the facility."

"So you do know her," said Damon.

"She's planning to use the nanotoxin on a high-profile victim. That's all I know! I swear!"

"Yeah? Who is it?"

"I don't know! I just design! I don't implement! Please. They know Cobalt was compromised. I'm a liability now."

"You want this?" Emma asked, holding up the cure. "Tell me how it works."

"Haemo-plasmic nanotoxin. The particles are introduced into the bloodstream and when triggered it leads to acute vascular degeneration. Every blood vessel in the body explodes inside you! It's an upgrade to the kill chip. No surgery required. Inject the nanos, hit the trigger."

"What trigger?"

"A focused microwave frequency. Aimed anywhere in the world. Give me the antidote. I swear that's all I know."

"Okay. Good talk." Suddenly, the nanotoxin was activated inside Tolcher's body and he died. Later, Ric and Jenna were in bio-containment suits, examining Tolcher's body in Medical.

"Officially done dissection Shop property," said Ric.

"I prefer the car," Jenna replied.

"We should incinerate the body," said Ric to Damon and Emma outside.

"Not until we confirm his story," Emma rebutted.

"I believe it is confirmed. It's more than a virus. Nanites that mimic human cells with a micro-dose of toxin," said Ric.

"You could have it in your bloodstream and no one would know. Only if you knew what you were looking for," Jenna added.

"No symptoms until you turn on the microwave and then bam! Blood pudding."

"If it was Esther, how would she know that you injected him?" Damon asked.

"Ric, check his inner ear. Esther once exposed Caroline by putting a cochlear implant in another agent's ear. Maybe she did it again."

"Got something."

"This is much more advanced than an implant. It looks as if it was injected directly into the tympanic cavity. Kind of like a permanent com device," said Jenna. "It's brilliant."

"Brilliant and twisted," Ric muttered. "She could hear everything."

"So who's her next target?" Damon asked.

"Tolcher said it was high-profile."

"And to make that work, she'd have to infect the target first and then kill them with…the frequency later. Hasan. That shiv. Smith must have infected her with that."

"She'll die tonight," said Jenna. "She's giving a speech in two hours."

"She'll die in front of millions and Esther's gonna pull the trigger," said Emma. Emma and Damon called Caroline from Briefing. "Caroline, they're going to kill her tonight."

"If it's triggered by satellite, let's kidnap her, shield her from the signal."

"That's not an option. The signal penetrates underground."

"Our best plan is to get the antidote to you. We have one that we didn't use."

"That's going to be difficult to explain to her."

"Well, we dose her without her knowing."

"Maybe with a smaller needle, but it's an op that would take days to plan."

"We don't have days. Caroline, we gotta think about this and call you back. Stick to Hasan like glue."

"Got it," said Ric.

"Got what?"

"Esther knew exactly when to push that kill button, but the signal came through their satellite," said Damon.

"Which you already hacked."

"Jenna and I were there when the signal came through. I was able to back-trace it. Esther hit the switch in an old aqueduct in downtown Philly. Connection's still active," said Ric.

"Find Jenna. Prep for dual operations," Emma sighed.

"Dual operations? Are you crazy?" Damon asked when Ric left.

"You can get the antidote to Caroline. Hasan's bodyguards are not very good. They know you. We'll get you back in there."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to Philly. I have to stop the trigger."

"You mean to stop Esther."

"No, that's not what I'm doing, Damon."

"Really? Then let me go to Philly and you go to New York."

"I can't. Hasan's bodyguard saw me leave the alley. I wouldn't even get close. Damon, we can't let this woman die."

"And I can't lose you either."

"Okay. If you get to her before I get to the trigger, I will stand down. Or I will wait for you for backup."

"Promise?" She kissed him and then left. An hour or so later, Emma was in the aqueduct when her signal cut out.

"Ric? Ric!" Emma walked further down the aqueduct her gun drawn.

"Glad you could make it. Kill me and you kill yourself," said Esther.

"Where's the trigger?"

"The trigger? You don't really think this is about Maryam Hasan, do you? Emma, my target is and always has been you."

"Where is everybody? You think your guys could get a shot out before I took you out?"

"No guys. It's just you and me."

"Right. Unarmed?"

"Oh, I fired my shot weeks ago. It's just reaching you now."

"The warehouse."

"No. Your brain is fine. Maryam Hassan and the satellite and the phone call. You fell for it. It all led you straight to me."

"You planned an assassination just to get me here?"

"Well, the group does want Maryam dead which may still happen, depending on Damon or whoever else you sent to New York."

"Tell me. Did the group have a problem with me taking out Smith for you?"

"He was supposed to drop his phone in the alley for you to trace to Cobalt, but you got a little ahead of him. Oh well. Dr. Tolcher, on the other hand, he did have to die. I needed you to see firsthand just how the nanotoxins kill so that you can carry out your final mission with clarity."

"Final mission? You think you can control me with fear? Like I haven't been injected with poisons before, Esther?"

"It doesn't have to be injected. The nanotoxins can just as easily be imbedded in carbon-fiber bone. For example, if one were to receive an artificial limb."

"No."

"You didn't really think that hand was free, did you? The day I struck an alliance with the group, I told them to give Damon's hand back with an asterisk. Like I said, I fired my shot weeks ago. There is a trigger for Damon that's very close by. Touch me and Damon dies. Of course you could have given Damon the antidote, but he's probably using the one dose you have right now. You can save Damon. All you have to do is carry out one final assassination for me."

"Who?"

"Your target is Kathleen Spencer, the President of the United States. Kill the President in the next 24 hours or Damon dies. If you complete your mission, Damon will be provided with the antidote."

"Why kill the President?"

"I don't care really. I'm apolitical, but the group needs her dead. Publicly. I just knew the perfect girl for the job. The perfect killer. Now if you try and get anyone to help you, Damon dies instantly. If you try to save or even warn the President, Damon dies instantly. There is no one you can turn to. But do you wanna know the best part? You can't even tell the man you love. He would rather sacrifice himself than watch his beloved commit such a horrible act. Telling him would be sentencing him to death and that is something even you can't live with." Emma's gun fell from her hand and she fell to the ground, tears in her eyes. "The world is about to see you for who you really are, Emmalyne, and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Even if I do this…even if Damon lives…we'll never be together again. My life is over."

"No, silly. The President's life is over. Your life will go back to what it should be. You think you're a hero? You think you're better than me?" Esther placed a device next to her head and injected her with a com. "There. Now I can track you and hear everything you do. Run along home and get started on mission prep." Emma got up and left. "Good girl."

"I hope you rot," Emma whispered before blurring away. A few minutes later, she arrived at The Syndicate.

"Emmy. You made it. Why didn't you call in?" Ric asked.

"I just wanted to get back. Where's Damon?"

"Medical."

"Okay." She walked down to Medical and saw Caroline pulling a bullet out of Damon's shoulder.

"What happened?" Caroline asked Emma.

"The place was empty. Just a maze. I think she just wanted me to get lost, buy her some time so she could win. Guess she didn't know who she was messing with, did she?"

"So she's still out there."

"For now."

"And we'll get it her. The important thing is that we saved Maryam." She hugged Emma and then left.

"I thought I lost you," said Damon. Emma kissed him. He could tell something was on Emma's mind. "What is it? Emma?"

"You were right."

"Okay. Something is wrong."

"About moving on with our lives. Let's do it." Damon kissed her. "You asked me what I wanted. That's what I want."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Still got those plane tickets to Russia?" Recently, the couple had pooled their slim resources and bought a small house near the land where Emma grew up.

"Yeah. Let me just go confirm."

"I'll catch up with you."

"Okay." He left and Emma took the bullet Caroline had pulled out of Damon, still covered in her love's blood. She put in under the microscope and cried when she confirmed the nanotoxin was in his system. She walked down to the armory and looked at a gun. She pulled out a silencer and twisted it onto the nozzle.


	44. All I Need

"Saying your goodbyes?" Matt asked as Emma looked around Ops.

"More like good riddance."

"My trip to Washington was very fruitful. The President came through. We're getting our pardons. Should have them by weeks end. She kept her word."

"That's because she's afraid of us. She knows what we know, what we could do to her. She's one of the only people in the world who knows about The Syndicate. She should be afraid."

"Emma, is there something you want to say?"

"I just can't believe the end is in sight."

"Yeah. There were plenty of times I didn't think we'd make it. So you're okay with letting go of pursuing Esther?"

"Damon convinced me to move on."

"Now that is what I call true love."

Meanwhile, Damon walked into Ric's office.

"What did you want to show me?" Damon asked.

"Remember when Emmy went hunting for Esther in that aqueduct?"

"You mean when your coms went out?"

"Yeah, my coms don't just go out. Not like that. I ran some tests. There's nothing wrong with the tech."

"Well, maybe Shadownet's not up to snuff yet."

"Shadownet's got plenty of snuff. It's got snuff coming out of its ears. I did some digging. There was a jamming field dropped over the entire area."

"Jamming field? Last time we saw one of those, it was…"

"Esther. She used it in Colombia when you guys went after Ramon. I checked. It's the same power signature."

"Why would Esther jam that aqueduct?"

"She didn't want us to hear something or someone."

"Emma said there was no one down there, just her."

"That's the other thing. Emmy was out of contact for 22 minutes. That's a long time to be wandering around a supposedly empty aqueduct."

"You saying she lied?"

"If the power signature fits…look, Damon, we still don't know if Esther did anything to her. We've seen this before. The lies, the cover ups. It's Caroline all over again."

"Where is she?"

"She started the car lift. She's headed up top." In a barn, Emma opened a door in front of a motorcycle.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked, walking in.

"I need to take care of a few things. I'm in a rush."

"Is that what it feels like? Like what you have to do is so important that it just can't wait?"

"Damon."

"It's not real. Esther has gotten into your head just like she did with Caroline."

"That's not it."

"Emma." She pulled her gun on him. "Emma, put the gun down. Think about what you're doing. This is Esther. We've seen this before."

"Yes, we have." She shot at the beam next to him and he backed up. "I'm sorry, Damon. I can't help it. She's in my head. I can't shut her out. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

"Emma, you can fight this. Let me help you."

"There's so much I want to say. Not now. Not until we can be alone together. I wish I knew when that would be." She escaped on the motorcycle. Damon went back down to Ops and the group went over what Emma said in the barn.

"Something's not right. What Esther does isn't possession. When I did the things that I did, my actions felt natural, the result of my own choices. I wasn't aware that I was being manipulated," said Caroline.

"You're saying this isn't one of Esther's Jedi mind tricks?" Ric asked.

"I don't think so."

"Emma's doing this on her own?" Matt asked.

"Doing what? And why the act?" Jenna asked.

"To send us a message," Damon finally spoke. "She said there were things she wanted to say but we had to wait until we can be alone together."

"Maybe she knew we were watching her on security cams?" Ric suggested.

"Or maybe Esther was listening. When Esther forced me to be her mole, I couldn't tell any of you because I knew she was monitoring me," Jenna replied.

"That's why Emma was acting so squirrelly."

"Emma was trying to tell us she's been bugged," said Matt.

"Tolcher's subcutaneous com. Esther could have implanted one in Emma."

"Ric, can you reverse engineer the chip in Tolcher?" Damon asked. "Isolate the frequency Esther's using? We might be able to use that to…"

"To track the com that's in Emmy. Yeah. I already extracted the frequency earlier. So let's just…okay, got it. Her frequency is coming from DC."

"She's in Washington?"

"I checked the armory before you called me up here. In addition to her Glock, she took a silencer, a PSG-1 sniper rifle and scope, plus match grade ammo."

"That's a kill mission kit."

"She told me Spencer should be afraid of her. She was trying to warn me," said Matt.

"Warn you of what?"

"She's going to try and kill the President." Later, Ric hacked into the GPS system of Emma's parked car.

"Emmy, I'm talking to you through your car's onboard navigation system."

"Ric?"

"No time to explain. We have a very short window."

"Window for what?" A car sped in front of her parked one. She got of the car and pulled her gun. "Caroline? You have to get out of here now."

"Emma," said Damon from behind her.

"Damon, let me go. You don't know what you're doing."

"We know about Esther's bug. Ric's jamming it."

"No. You can't. She'll know."

"It's disguised as interference. She'll think you went through a tunnel or something as long as we don't cut her out for too long," said Caroline.

"Just long enough to stop you from killing the President. We know. We got your message. We know Esther didn't alter your brain so what did she do to you?"

"She didn't do anything to me! She did something to you. The nanotoxin is embedded in the carbon fiber bone of your new hand. If I don't fulfill her mission, she won't give me the antidote. I kill the President or you die, Damon. I have to go."

"There's no way I'm letting you go through with this. What happens to you if you do? I'd rather…"

"You'd rather die? That's why I didn't tell you."

"You can't just…"

"What choice do I have?"

"Why did you give us clues if you didn't want us to stop you?"

"Because if I have to go through with this, I wanted you to know why."

"What if there's another way? We take the nanotoxin out of play. We know there's an antidote," said Caroline.

"No, we already used the last dose on Maryam Hasan," Damon replied.

"So we find more. In the research, we found another scientist. His name is Kang. If anything, it looks like Tolcher was working heavily from his theories. He may be able to make more antidote."

"I can't go. Esther's watching," said Emma.

"We can. Stick to your plan so she doesn't suspect. We'll go find the antidote."

"I can buy you some time."

"Emma."

"Damon, if you want to save me, save yourself." She kissed him before leaving in her car. While Damon and Caroline's lead turned into a bust due to Kang's nanotoxin infection, Emma was brought to the Secret Service office inside The White House after using the underground tunnels. One officer dismissed the others.

"I've cleared agents from the blue sector for the next ten minutes. I can get you as far as the Oval Office. You'll need this." He brought her a gun without a silencer.

"How much did Esther pay you to betray your country?"

"I don't work for Esther. But the people I do work for want to make sure she gets what she needs and this has nothing to do with money."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Be a good girl and take the gun," said Esther through Emma's com." Emma put the gun behind her back.

"What the hell are you doing here and how the hell did you get on my schedule?" The President asked once Emma entered her office.

"There's something I have to do."

"I've settled everything with Donovan. You have no more obligation to me or the government."

"This is about saving someone. Have you ever had to decide between two impossible choices?"

"Of course. But if you step back, you'll usually see that one is more important than the other."

"Emma, can you hear me?" Damon asked over Emma's com.

"Damon?"

"It's okay. Esther can't hear us."

"Do you have the antidote?"

"Yes. We have it," Damon lied. "The threat's been neutralized. You can abort."

"Oh thank God. I love you."

"I love you too." Emma turned back to the President. There's something you need to know. There are people trying to kill you."

"A lot of people are trying to kill me. I'm the President of the United States."

"I'm talking about your inner circle. One of your Secret Service gave me this to kill you, to take you out." She placed the gun on the President's desk.

"That's from my security."

"Yes, it is. I know who, but there could be more. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Do you know what you have to do?"

"I know exactly what I have to do." The President then shot herself in the head. Agents entered the office and took down Emma.

"Please tell me that didn't just happen," said Caroline as she walked into Ops with Damon, having heard the shot over Emma's com.

"The President is dead," Matt sighed. "And somehow Esther was responsible for it."

"This was all a trap to frame Emma," Damon growled.

"It was a contingency. Esther made sure Emma would go down for the assassination even if Emma couldn't pull the trigger."

"The game was rigged all along," said Ric.

"But how?" Jenna asked. "Could she have gotten in Spencer's head?"

"How would she gain that kind of access and if she did, why not kill the President then?" Matt asked.

"This is The Shop we're talking about. It's got to be some kind of…"

"Hey! None of this matters. What matters is we have to save Emma!" Damon interrupted.

"The Secret Service is gonna be all over her by now. That's if they haven't already dropped her in the deepest hole they got." Damon started to walk away.

"Hey. Where are you going?" Matt asked.

"Getting her out."

"Damon, you're at risk."

"Screw that!"

"Look, Damon, we will rescue Emma, but you can't do anything if you're dead."

"I'm dead already. Kang is gone as is any chance of me getting an antidote. And I'll be damned if I stand around while Emma's in trouble!"

"Wait. You're not dead yet. I've been thinking. Kang said that the nanocells react just like living tissue. They die when the host body dies," said Caroline.

"So?"

"So what if the host body dies?"

"I get it. We kill Damon, we kill the nanocells," said Ric. "Then we revive him."

"We don't have that kind of time," said Damon.

"You remember what Emma said? To save her, you have to save yourself."

"Let's go." When they arrived in Medical, Damon took off his shirt so Jenna could inject with a vervain toxin that would cause death.

"We have to stop your heart for twenty minutes. That's how long it takes to kill the nanocells. I called Bree in," said Jenna. "She can do the spell that will bring you back from the dead."

"I hear you need a necromancer," said Bree, walking in. "Hey, Damon."

"Hurry up. We don't have all day," said Ric from Ops. "Emma just escaped from Secret Service custody."

"Ric, how is he?" Emma asked as he sped down a road in a stolen car.

"Uh, he's…he's dead, but not the way you think. We had to flatline him to kill the nanotoxin."

"What! What about the antidote!"

"They never got it. It's okay. Caroline is on top of it. Twenty minutes and they're going to bring him back. We called Bree in."

"I'm on my way. Ric, listen to me. Don't let him die. Do you understand! Don't you dare let him die!"

"Guys, we have multiple hostiles incoming. They are well-armed. Judging from their cover formation, they're well-trained. It's the Dirty 30. Emmy, get here now. Everybody, we've got bad guys on the way down."

"Bree, finish up!" Caroline yelled as Bree closed her eyes and began the spell which would bring the now dead Damon back. As Ric, Matt, and Caroline took out ten of the rogue agents. Emma arrived and using only a pipe as a weapon took out the remaining ten.

"Go!" said Matt. Emma ran down to Medical. "Bree?"

"I finished the spell, but…he hasn't woken up. I don't know. He's been down for so long. I don't know if his body's strong enough."

"He's strong enough. Come on, Damon. Give him adrenaline. Now." Ric, Matt, and Caroline came in. "Damon. Do you remember when I told you you were the strongest person I'd ever met? We were standing in the snow and you told me about how your family had been taken from you. And I thought how could anyone survive that? You did. You survived and then you saved me too. Damon, you pulled me out of the darkness when there was no other way. And I need you to be strong for me right now. If you want to save me, save yourself. Please!" She cried on his shoulder. Damon then groaned.

"That was a bitch." Everyone laughed as Emma hugged him. Later, the group went up-top, ready to say goodbye to The Syndicate. Matt handed Emma an explosive trigger. She pressed the trigger and as the underground bunker exploded, they left in a SUV. When they reached a safe house, they turned on the TV and saw a grainy image of Emma was plastered over all the news stations.

"We're going to clear your name," said Matt.

"No question. They got nothing. That could be bigfoot," Ric agreed.

"They'll find a better image."

"We'll expose the truth before that happens," Damon interrupted.

"Problem will be getting people to believe it," said Caroline. "I know the truth and I can hardly believe it."

"That's why we need to get to the bottom of what's really going on. Find out why Esther and The Shop wanted the President dead, how they made her commit suicide. Those answers are what's going to clear Emma's name," said Matt.

"I'm putting you all in the line of fire," Emma realized.

"We can handle it," Matt replied.

"No. This will be heat like we've never seen before."

"Emma, we can beat this. I was ready to die today, but you and Caroline and everyone refused to let that happen," said Damon.

"You remember when Esther tried to teach us that our loved ones were a liability? Well, it's a good thing you've got more than one," Caroline added.

"Okay," Emma agreed. She hugged Damon.

"Till death do us part, right?" She nodded. Later, Caroline, Damon, Ric, Jenna, and Matt were talking about their options.

"So these are all Shop facilities?" Matt asked.

"Yup," Ric replied.

"A lot of these locations correspond to known hubs for human trafficking. Maryam Hasan offered me a position at the UN to work on the global trafficking problem. If I took it, I'd have the influence and cover to get us into a lot of these places. It'd be a chance for Karolina Fedorov to do some good. Make the name into something that I could finally be proud of," said Caroline. "And it will help us nail the people working with Esther and get us closer to clearing Emma's name."

"That's not a bad strategy," said Damon. "Emma?" They looked around, but she was gone. "God damnit." He ran upstairs, but couldn't find her. He called her. "Come on. Answer your damn phone."

In an SUV Emma was driving and saw her phone ringing. She cried as she saw it was Damon and threw the phone out the window.

"Answer, damn it," Damon cursed. "Answer your phone." He then saw Emma's wedding ring lying on a window sill. Emma was gone and she wasn't coming back.


End file.
